The Ivy League: After Cyberslam and Before Slaughter
By Poison Ivy
11:38 PM on 4/28/2002


THE IVY LEAGUE 4/28/2002
POST-CYBERSLAM/PRE-SLAUGHTER

I'm sitting in the locker room with five stitches in my arm from last night's barbed wire match, and I'm looking at publicity photos of Erik Kelly holding the fWo World Title belt. Comparing them with the pictures taken of him during his first Hardcore Title reign, the look he's got in his eye is the exact same in both shots.

He never doubted for a moment that he'd be a World Champion. That's why he made it.

It's cliche to say that the fWo is unlike anywhere else in the wrestling world, but I think I've got a corner on the market for locker room experience. There isn't a territory in the world today that I haven't worked for at one time or another.... and the fWo has the most unusual yin/yang I've ever seen.

Everyone is a creature of habit. There's always exactly three games of cards going on - one poker, two spades. Monte Burns isn't very outgoing, he's usually sitting by himself with a magazine or a Discman. Tempest, armed with a yo-yo or slinky, will invariably say hello to everyone in the building, including any fans she crosses paths with on her way in or out. Wherever you hear gum snapping, or tinny music flying from headphones, that's where my girl is. Brand Frontier is introverted to a different degree - he prefers the company of his family, his guests, whoever. If there's more than five minutes until matchtime, he won't be dressed yet, that's a given. Personally, on most nights I lean back in my locker and take a nap. Sleeping on the road can be tough.

Everyone has their habits, and everyone respects everyone else's space. There's virtually no ribbing,

Until last night, at Cyberslam.

Everyone arrived at the arena between one and two PM. Almost everyone was rivalling Tempest for most energy exhuded by a single person (though I think she's still got us all beat). When the matches started, everyone was glued to the monitors. The competitive nature amongst these wrestlers seemed to have been sacrificed in favor of wishing everyone a good match. It's a good thing, too, because I talked to Ruben before he went out there, and he was almost doubting his ability to carry his half of a Cyberslam main event.

Ruben and Erik had nothing to worry about.

I don't know what it was last night, because as I sit here leaning on the back wall of my locker, contemplating taking a nap before the final episode of fWo Sunday Night Slaughter, everyone is back to normal. Eli Flair, Lance Knight, Triple X, and Scott Slugger are playing Spades, and the three veterans appear to be stacking the deck, no pun intended, against poor Lance Knight. I can hear Shakira playing in Tempest's discman from across the room. Nobody is talking about how hard it is for a wrestling promotion to survive without a television deal, particularly when they've got over two dozen wrestlers and other talent under contract. Chris Universal had a meeting with everyone this afternoon to explain the tour schedule, and how our payoffs are getting redistributed with more shows per week and more traveling per week.

I'm not one to gossip about my co- workers, but this is where things get exciting for me. Critics have charged Eli Flair and myself as being too soft to survive in a 'real' wrestling promotion these days, and while those Internet Wrestling Personalities can.... be thankful I'm self- censoring, there's some truth to that. With one show a week from the fWo and three to five shows a month with the CSWA, it's been a while since I was on the road every day of the week.

This, my friends, is going to be a lot of fun. See you all soon, in a town near you.

This is Ivy too