Dan the Ring Announcer’s commentary

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Ric Flair had been wrestling longer than this fan of 25 years and it wasn't until just now that I realized how much I'll miss him. I started watching wrestling religiously as I got my Jr. High School career going as the White Sox won the AL West. The first time I recall watching Ric on TV was on World Class Championship Wrestling that was on WPWR-TV Channel 60 (not 50.) He wrestled Kerry Von Erich for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a cage with Michael Hayes as the special referee. This was the match where Terry Gordy slammed Kerry's head with the cage door in which that had never been done before in that kind of match. That was where I got hooked and wrestling (of some sort) has been a friend since.

Think about this if you will; Ric Flair is one of the more fortunate men in the history of Pro Wrestling. Why would I say that? From November 1983 (at Starrcade) to July 1990 (Great American Bash) Ric Flair held the NWA World Championship almost uninterrupted with the exception of three periods of time spanning approximately 6 months combined. Kerry Von Erich (3 weeks,) Dusty Rhodes (2 weeks,) Ronnie Garvin (1 1/2months,) and Ricky Steamboat (just shy of three months) were the transitional champions in that period whenever Flair needed a breather. What made him so fortunate in this time was that the NWA had groomed 2 different men in that time period to become champion. Unfortunately, tragedy struck as David Von Erich died on a tour of Japan in February of 1984 and then 2 1/2 wears later, Magnum TA had his career ended in a horrendous car accident. Those two men were the NWA's chosen ones and all the time they invested in those two went down the drain. The landscape of pro wrestling maybe different today if David were still around today as World Class disintergrated within 4 years of his passing. Magnum TA probably in my estimation would have gone back and forth with Flair for the title and even though life gave him quite the left turn, Magnum is still revered to this day anyway.

As turned out, the WCW finally found someone else to put the World Title on. In the summer of 1990, it was till the NWA World Heavyweight Championship but Ted Turner and a real knucklehead name Jim Herd were making the decisions and the NWA governing body wasn't. In July 1990, Sting would beat Flair in the cage and hold the strap for a little while. For the first time since he feuded with Harley Race, Flair had a sustained run without the championship.

In January 1991, The New York Metro Area was suffering through a blizzard as WCW had a show in East Rutherford, New Jersey. With only a crowd of 3,000 to 4,000, Ric Flair became champion once again after being without the title for the latter half of 1990. Sting just wasn't that main-event draw WCW hoped for so they went back to "Old Faithful." This was a time where people believed that Flair was getting long in the tooth but there was nobody else who could carry the ball like Ric can and he did until about the end of spring where he took off with the belt and ran to the WWF.

Not that Flair did nothing in years afterward but this is the period where the people's fondness of him should lie. i grew up watching this man and until tonight, watching him throughout my adult life. This was his time and he made the most of it by wrestling 60 minute matches day after day and then partying his ass at night as if he were Babe Ruth. I had more hours in school than this man had sleeping during this time and there wasn't anybody who could say they were better than him even if he wasn't even close to being a 100% for a certain match.

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April 28, 2008

I am considering only posting here. If I decide to do so, the only real reason I have to visit chicagoprowrestling.com then would be to file show results for WAR.

There are only 9 registered users here at this time. This is an unofficial WARprowrestling site as it would be just fine to discuss other companies on here. The difference is me or the warmonger WON'T RUN YOU DOWN if you have something to say about another company like people do at the other aforementioned site.

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May 19, 2008

Before I get going, I would like to welcome aboard the new members of this board as we are now up to 18!!!

For a guy who's only real microphone experience was singing karaoke, this was a sizeable step for me. Back in my 20's doing karaoke, they were some of the most fun nights of my life as I would be out to steal the show and do shit that would remind people of pro wrestling. As the KJ in those days usually needed a little time to cue up the music, I would do shit to get a rise out of the crowd and give an oura of greatness like a heel would.

After a while, however that had ran its course. Three things have happened this decade to water down my karaoke fun. American Idol came out and made everybody believe that they can be a star let alone give them the gumption to get on karaoke stage. With that said, the people these days are more narcissistic and they iust are not interested so much in hearing somebody else they don't know. Also, there just has not been a whole lot of good music (in my opinion) to come out for a long time and most of the stuff I had liked to do now gets over like a lead balloon. Up until last August, I spent over 5 years in the limousine business and that also reduced my time to go out to karaoke greatly as I would work evenings until the wee hours.

My wrestling watching habits go back 25 years. I started watching World Class with the Von Erichs & the AWA on channel 26 every Sunday morning at 11AM. I don't know if I would be in the majority here but what one of the things I liked about the AWA were their promos that went on to sell me on their product. The way that Ken Resnick and Larry Nelson showed the fear of God when interviewing such guys as The Mongolian Stomper & Nord The Barbarian I will never forget. World Class, well, the feuds they had down there are a big part of wrestling history. In 1985 after WrestleMania 1, that's where I really got going following the WWF and then Jim Crockett's NWA when St. Charles finally got cable available in the fall of that same year. In 1986 came the UWF who absolutely made the most of their talent before getting swallowed by Crockett in latter 1987. As these were the companies that got me to love wrestling, does anybody know whatever happened to Savannah Jack?

Fast forward to last year and that's where I made a decision about the sport I love. I watched WrestleMania 23 that was in Detroit and thought it just absolutely sucked outside of The Money In The Bank match and what I decided to do is to look back into the indies around here again. It had been since 2001 since I took in the very first show of PCW right before 9/11 so the NWA Midwest on May 5th last year in Streamwood marked my return to taking in the indies.
The show was in honor of Chris Candido, who we had lost 2 years earlier. Who knows where TNA would be today if he were still involved as he was making one of the greatest comebacks in wrestling history. This show got it done for me as they were everything the WWE isn't, which was damn refreshing. The first match of the night started the NWA Midwest Title Tournament and the first one to come out to the ring was "Roughneck" Jay Ryan. Despite I didn't know who he was at the time, he instantly brought a smile to my face by looking crazy and slamming his bull rope around. I fell in love with two women on this show as they had a women's title vs. title match
featuring Ms. Chif vs. Amazing Kong. Never had I been so impressed seeing two women's wrestlers for the first time................and I am seeing them in Streamwood?! There also was Joey Eastman & The Phoenix Twins were an X was marked on one of them for everybody to tell the difference and Jason Dukes, who had a cult following in spite of him being a heel. At intermission was where I met P.L. Myers, who was just taking in the show. Mr. "Straight To The Top" was the first man I got to know in this business as we got together a couple of times and talked wrestling for hours.

Fast forwarding to November of last year, I took in PCW's Midlo show the weekend before Thanksgiving. After the show, I went down to Mitch's (in town) to have a few drinks with the fellas. This where I got to know The Butcher and Rodney. Still not knowing to this day what his last name is, Rodney and I really had a long chat with as he let me know how long he had been a part of the business as he even mentioned how he knew Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts real well. During that long conversation, Rodney encouraged me to check out the AWA Slam show the night before Thanksgiving where Butcher was going to tag with The B-O-Z.

As I had taken in all but one PCW show since I met P.L., I was looking forward to checking out another company. I like PCW but their product wasn't exactly what I had in mind when it came to following independents. The problem was that PCW is a family type product and I just wanted something that had a little bit more of an edge.

It turned out that this was AWA Slam's biggest show of year, The Four Points Sheraton, outside of O'Hare, was the venue and I started running into familiar faces not too long after I had entered the lobby. First of all, I didn't expect to see P.L. there, who made his first appearance that night as he has been at WAR since. Also in the lobby, I saw Acid Jaz walking around with his championship belt as he looked like he should be one, even before seeing him in action for the first time. A little bit later I ran into Butcher, himself as he was happy to see that I made it out. Even standing in line waiting to get in was even fun as I talked wrestling with an interaccial couple that I had remember seeing my two previous times at NWA Midwest.

The show was fun as the company kind of made me feel like I was watching the old AWA. It reminded me of the AWA when they would run in The Tropicana in Atlantic City or The Showboat in Las Vegas. Then I found out they were having a match to possibly change the name of the company. It was Acid Jaz vs. "The Human Massacre" Keith "Venom" Walker and with Jaz winning by DQ and subsequently changing the name to WAR. The man I was actually most impressed on the show with was Marshe Rockett. Even in defeat, the company looked like it could bank its future on him as he looks to me that he may one day become the best African-American wrestler ever!!!

Afterwards, I went to Mama K's for the after-party. I really only talked to Butcher and Rodney and bought Keith Walker a beer after giving him shit at the show. Otherwise, I really didn't talk to anyone else as karaoke was going on and I didn't want to look like a jock-sniffer anyway. I had no idea at the time how much of a role I would end up having with the company.

After attending my first Dojo show, I became a member of chicagoprowrestling.com. That has turned into quite a ride itself as I have given show results, reviews, and the knack (it seems) to piss off people when I talked up WAR or PCW. Didn't anticipate the polarizing views on that site but usually, there happens to be quite a bit happening on that board as I have had my share of fun there. January, I was asked by Buddha to serve up WAR results for the first time and the gut just about thinks of me as literary genious.

As the dual members from cpw on here know, I have been known for my polls (haven't done too much of them lately, have I?) One poll I conduct was a poll on Jamie Dundee. I found it very interesting when I found out that he had wrestling regularly in the area (primarily for POWW at the time.) I didn't see Jamie wrestle for the USWA but I read about him in the wrestling magazines and was entertained by just reading about his feud with his father, "Superstar" Bill Dundee (who I was familiar with in the AWA & NWA. The first time I saw Jamie on television was when he became a member of The Nation of Domination. Then I find out he is coming to WAR to take on Jaz for the WAR title and I think that its just awesome. A lot of people would say that Jamie has had a checkered past but he had been in the big time and he had entained me just by reading about him. His first night at WAR, I cheered my ass of for him and yelled out, J.C. The Ice Baby!!! He couldn't believe that someone remembered him by that name has he acknowledged me. After the show, the post-party was at Mama K's and I bought him a beer as we exchanged pleasantries. With karaoke going on at Mama's again, it was my next to last song I sang that night (sang 11 songs) and after I got done with that turn, I discovered that my leather jacket was gone from the chair at the table I had left it at. Jamie had picked up and thought it belonged to a talent that had already left. Seeing that he picked up, I stopped panicking and acted like I was little pissed off. He apologized and I told him it was all good, I told him I looked forward to seeing more of him at WAR as he was getting ready to leave.

After being in the business for going on two decades, a lot has been said about Jamie Dundee. What I do know is that most of WAR, at least, thinks the world of Jamie and we just hope he can set his course and hopefully, it will be with WAR.

After attending just about every show in 2008, the better I got to know Buddha and the boys. As more shows came and went, the more I was in Buddha's ear telling him he has to do something about his ring announcer. I was telling him that they couldn't keep trotting this guy out because he was inaudible in certain spots, always reading off his notes on announcements, couldn't improvise without Buddha, and seriously just lacked personality. At first, Buddha (non-seriously) offered me the job and I said O.K. Then after further noticing my vocals at karaoke, he then decided that he wanted to work me in for some of the Corino show.

****That First Night****
Tuesday before the Corino show, I got the call that I would be doing
the whole show as their regular guy suddenly couldn't make it. I told Buddha I wanted prep time so I was told to come in at 4PM. I didn't make it until almost five because some intersections on North Ave. were a bitch to get across. After bullshitting with Nickie Sixx & P.L. Myers, one of Buddha's assistant's gave me ride down the street to pickup some goodies that were going to later be apart of the night.

Part of my job (I found out) was that I, myself had to go around the dressing room and ask everyone statistics (weights & locations) for the show. Then about 7:35, I got dressed for the show as some of the guys wre telling me that the dark blue blazer I had made me look like the captain of a ship. At 7:50-7:55, I did a quick mic check and then went back to the dressing area to await my cue.

Awaiting my entrance, I sat down and stayed quiet. I wasn't really nervous at all and maybe the something that had to do with that was my shoes. I was wearing dress shoes for the first time that I got in Christmas of 2006 that were absolutely tight and dug into both of my achilles everytime I took a step. Earlier, I made sure that I came out to AC/DC's TNT as I did not want that let's get Ready to Rumble crap that the other guy was coming out to. The problem was that the regulars were so used to the other music, they were all staring out at the empty ring when I came out. When I got out to ringside, I put out my arms like "What the fuck?" and then I got a reaction from the crowd.

Once I got to the ring I motioned to Buddha to hand me bag that I had already at ringside. In that bag consisted of goodies from Hostess that I let fly. Lucky crowd members were treated to five-pack chocolate mini-donuts, apple pies, and twinkies. After doing that, to establish a rapport with the crowd, I asked them who they were there to see.

All in all, it couldn't have gone much better for the debut of a ring announcer. Of course, I got a little heat from the heels and Buddha as he accused me of killing concessions. I definitely enjoyed myself, especially when we got the cheetos involved (again) in the Boz match. After all was said and done, I only really got tongue twisted once (it had to be the main event) and I got nothing but complimentary remarks from everyone who had an opinion. A special thanks to Steve Corino, Mr. Ricolo, and Nick H. as their opinions are apprieciated especially as they are outsiders (to WAR) in the industry looking in.

This Friday night will be my second show. Please come and say hello and see some of the very best talent that WAR has to offer.

Dan/Big D/5172

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June 9, 2008

There were points I thought I would be moving to Elgin, Park Ridge, and Cary but this weekend I will be living in Marengo. Although I face about an hour of drive time to and from work each way, the cost of living will be cheaper there. It will be just strange in itself that I won't be saying I'm from St. Charles anymore. I look forward to my new hometown and this won't affect my affiliation with WAR much at all. In fact, it may just enhance it.

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This was Stan Pain alerting everyone to the server fire at a Proboards facility that wiped out the Chicago Pro Wrestling website. In no way is Stan denigrating the other site or its constituents and members, including any promotions.

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November 2, 2008
(Note: 3 weeks after Stan Pain’s departure from the promotion)

Hello everyone. It's Dan and I thought I would clarify here my role in WAR.

Officially, I am an assistant booker. Some of my ideas come into play, some don't but either way I am giving a fresh, non-worker perspective. I am given the leeway to shoot off my ideas and that's what I wanted to do for a company all along. I really did get into my 9 show run as ring announcer and I did perform, all in all, better than I thought I would at any point.

I don't like everything that happens in this company but I am loyal to it. I think there are many things we can do better and we eventually will get better. I am lobbying to get a third venue, preferably in the Fox Valley area. Whether its one date a month, one every six weeks or every other month, I think its important to add one more venue just to see if we can develop a market in that area. I have noticed that POWW, by working every weekend, has a bit of a fan base that will follow them anywhere (except maybe Dubuque) and there is hardly a chance they would cancel a show as they draw, at least, decent numbers.

For those of you that have been curious about the company but haven't seen a show yet or those of you who aren't overly familiar with the company yet, I have a pledge for you. As long as I am in the fold at WAR, I am out for you in putting on a good product. Some aspects you may find to be lacking but I am out to correct whatever they may be
with time. I want people to know there is at least one friendly face within our ranks and if you love wrestling, you can grow to love us.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you at the shows. Take good care!!!

The Big D/5172
Dan Kaelin

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