Blizzard ‘10 Press Conference

[The shot opens up outside of the WMW Press Room of the WMW Arena. Sault St. Marie walks up to a podium as reporters sit in front of the podium. Camera shots are audible.]

Sault St. Marie – Hello everyone. Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Years. Obviously, we welcome the new year with a big show. Nothing like starting off the year with a bang, and this year – 2010 – it’s with Blizzard. It’s almost fitting considering how the weather has treated us for the last few weeks.

[He smiles.]

Sault St. Marie – Well, I’m obviously out here to make a few announcements as we head into the first supercard of the year. First of all, I want to welcome our new set of reporters, who have joined us representing the World Wrestling Alliance. We are very thankful that you are here and really look forward to working with you and the WWA in 2010. Blizzard is our first show under the WWA umbrella. That doesn’t mean anything is changing, but just a categorical change.

[He looks around and smiles again.]

Sault St. Marie – Just like how things went in the AWA for the last 8 months, we plan on working hard and earning top billing week in and week out. It’s just here in the WWA, the competition is a bit stronger. Well, except for Dream. We have experience beating them in the ratings before, so I don’t see them as a huge threat in 2010. But who knows, things can change, right?

[He shares a small laugh with the reporters.]

Sault St. Marie – But, regardless, we’re going to be doing a few different things this show. Oh, before I get too far a head of myself, I do want to make the announcement that there is a change in the card. Hell Rell vs. Mo’ Bad has been postponed. That will most likely move to Graveyard Shift next Thursday. We’re working with Mo’ Bad on a new contract and, after working with him and his agent, we decided that it would be best to hold off this match until a later date. But, we plan on securing him to a deal, and all signs point to a positive outcome to our next conversation.

[He looks down at his notes before turning back to the reporters.]

Sault St. Marie – But, moving back to Blizzard. A few different things we’re going to be doing. First of all, John Squires and Stephen Squires, we were really impressed with how they built up some of the matches for El Dia ‘09, that we’ll asking them to once again walk the crowd through each matchup, give their take on what’s been going on with the competitors involved, and even give some predictions. Just adding a bit more flavor, a bit more commentary to the mix. We received some good feedback from our fans and feel like this is a good move for everyone involved.

[He clears his throat and takes a sip from his water.]

Sault St. Marie – Another thing we’ll be doing is replaying a few matches from 2009. 2009 was a big year for us. One of the things that WMW has been good at in it’s existence is staying under the radar. Part of the decision to partner with Sports Time Ohio and Apex Wrestling, and which ultimately drove us to begin talks with the WWA was to see what type of feedback and reaction we’d get from our peers and our fans. And, obviously, I think WWA signing us was an exclamation point at the end of the statement that we are a great group. We’ve got a great group of competitors here, and the organization is just top notch. Especially with a city like Cleveland supporting us for as long as they have, and continue to do so. Another sign that we were in fact, not only showing up on people’s radars, but really pushing ourselves to the forefront of the business, was the fact that many of the national media outlets were reporting our news, and highlighting our achievements. So, at Blizzard, we’re going to take a look back at 2009, we’re going to take a look at what exactly people have been saying about us, and go over what it means to be a part of the WWA and to be nominated for so many awards by EWTorch.com.

[He looks at his notes again.]

Sault St. Marie – And, we normally try to keep the word “stipulations” out of our “heavy use” dictionary. But, seeing as this is Blizzard, our first supercard of 2010, it’s nice to have an opportunity to put something more than a title on the line. Now, we do have 3 big matches planned and all have these types of stipulations. The first being Hecate defending the Heartlands Championship against Audrie McLaughlin and Damien Knight. Then, Jade defending the Shoot Championship against both Amariie and Jack Reynolds, and both the Great Lakes Championship and the Ace Superior Championship on the line in a mega 7-person fight.

[He smiles as he looks around.]

Sault St. Marie – We’ve got some special stipulations on these matches. In brief, the Heartlands Championship match will involve the idea of sacrifices. Obviously, Hecate will be sacrificing the title if she loses. Damien Knight has offered an additional $10,000 to take part in this match, a part from his $10,000 campaign at the end of the 2009. And Audrie McLaughlin will have her contract on the line. Money, Success and a Career, all on the line in this one. Unlike most “sacrifice” matches, both losers in this one will be forced to sacrifice. So, if Hecate can retain, Knight will lose his $10k and Audrie McLaughlin will lose her roster status.

[He looks at his notes.]

Sault St. Marie – The Shoot Championship is no different. Because of the partnership with the World Wrestling Alliance, it is important to not sit on old competition, but push for new competition. The Shoot Championship is the title based on tradition and honor. But, it would be dishonorable for us, as an organization, to keep pushing the same matches show after show. The Shoot Championship match at Blizzard 2010 will be held under gauntlet rules. Jack Reynolds and Amariie Maerthos will begin the match. When one of them is eliminated, the remaining competitor will then face off against Jade to determine the undisputed Shoot Champion. The person who is eliminated in the first part of the contest will not only lose their shot at regaining the title at Blizzard 2010, but will be banned from competing for the Shoot Championship again until 2011.

[He looks at his notes again as he takes a drink of water.]

Sault St. Marie – The Great Lakes and Ace Superior match will be in a very special match we’re calling the “Frostbite Brawl”. It’s a multiple person match, obviously Kronin and Valora, defending their titles against Druscilla, Father Nathan, Ryven, AWS Man and Adam Pyre. You need to score a pinfall or submission to be eligible to climb the ladder and remove a briefcase representing one of the two titles. Person pinned or submitting will be sent to a penalty box for 2 minutes. The match will end when both titles have been claimed, at which point the briefcases will be opened and we’ll find out who the GLC and ASC holders are.

[He looks back down to his notes and looks up with a smile.]

Sault St. Marie – All right, well – that’s all I have. Blizzard 2010 is a little bit over 24 hours away. I have time for just a few questions. So, let’s try and run through this as quickly as possible.

[He points to one of the women standing in front.]

Sault St. Marie – Go ahead.

Reporter #1 – Yes, you said that Audrie McLaughlin’s career is on the line in the Heartlands Championship match?

Sault St. Marie – Yes. Now, obviously – that wasn’t something we were looking for. But, after talking with Hecate, we decided that any competitor wishing to compete for the title would have to sacrifice something. It seemed like a good way to spur some interested in the Heartlands division. Knight offered up a sizable donation, which will be made into a charitable donation if he loses. Audrie McLaughlin looked at her situation and decided that she wanted to put up her contract. I was against it, as were much of the staff, but this is Audrie’s decision, and we’ll comply. We want to see Audrie in this match, and if this is what Audrie wants to do, we’ll oblige to sanctioning it.

[He points to a male reporter in the second row.]

Sault St. Marie – You sir.

Reporter #2 – Now, can you explain the situation regarding the Shoot Championship? How exactly do you see removing someone from the division a good way to create competition.

Sault St. Marie – Well, it’s not exactly creating competition as a result of the banning. For sure, I think Jack Reynolds and Amariie Maerthos are key pieces to the division. Amariie being the first Shoot Champion in 3 years, while Jack Reynolds was the man who brought it back. But, the fact is, because of their involvement, other competitors have been unable to interject themselves into the mix and wanted a way to resolve that. So, by removing one person, it opens it up to the rest of the roster. This is basically taking both Jack Reynolds and Amariie’s rematch clauses in their contracts and using them up in one night, and then allowing us to start 2010 fresh. It’s just the spirit of the competition and will make winning the match, or at least winning the initial gauntlet that much more necessary.

[He looks at his watch.]

Sault St. Marie – All right. Sorry about this. I do need to run. This went a bit longer than I was expecting.