The Second Era

1997-2002 (The Second Era)

 In Early 1997, the WPW invaded the WWF. This would establish the groundswell for the competitive second era in the Toy Wrestling World. The invasion would be lead by Slammu, the WPW Champion and leader of the NOD. It would spark a war between the old and new eras through the WWF and WPW feud that would later ensue.

 ECW got a bit bolder as well, even testing mettle of the WWF throughout the year. This competition also marked the end of the year/month/week-by-day play with our desire to always remain on the same page. This led the ECW to introduce new stars like Vicious, Katu (two of the same toy; white ninja power ranger), and Gripper (a MonStars, McDonald’s toy with limited mobility, who would inspire the USWA introduction of Slipper and Ripper [the same toys]) who would enter into an epic feud with Splinter, actually giving Splinter his toughest challenge yet. Their brawls would eventually culminate with the innovative introduction of the “Crimson Car Match” (a match fought with and around vehicles in a parking lot or junkyard).

 A number of other matches would be created throughout the course of the first year in this era, including the USWA’s “Brick House Brawl” (Fought within a roofless, doorless, brick house), and Crucifixion Match (objective is to pin or force submission out of opponent prior to hoisting them up on a Crucifix).

 Feeling a sense of confidence, Mickey rechristened the WPW as the USWA/WWWF/WPW (the WWWF standing for the World Whacky Wrestling Federation), even adopting WWF PPV names with the permission of said promotion. The popularity of this revamped promotion would grow as the year progressed, even featuring the debuts of a new slate of stars including Soultaker (Undertaker figure and supposed brother), Silverdust (Goldust figure), Invader, Slader and Vader Two (lol…Vader figures), Jerry “the Prince” Lawler, Hillsley (A snob-Triple H figure) Woody the Second (son of Woody from Toy Story, a character who became famous for his tendency to collapse an transform into another person) and the Giant Gonzales (only, there wasn’t a real Gonzales figure at the time, so I introduced a Dr. Ken doll, slightly modified to represent him), who would dethrone Jesse Ventura as the tallest wrestler, standing at 13′ 2″.

 It was also during this period of time in which the innocence of toy wrestling would forever vanish, succumbing to the more obscene and even offensive approach to storyline presentation.

 At the close of 1997, Murrey – the real person – would (unofficially acting as the WOW organization) recognize the USWA as the best and fastest growing promotion of the year. This would lead Mickey to simply rechristen the company one last time as the USWA. Also towards the end of the year, I unintentionally mimicked a storyline emerging in the real WWF pitting Promoter against Employee when Blaster flipped his lid and nearly killed Mickey and Vinnie Mouse during a radio broadcast. An epic, endless feud between the two would follow, into which I’ll delve further, later.

 Metalhead would also become USWA Champion at the first USWA Survivor Series in a 13-Man Battle Royal. He would later lose it to Slammu. In 1998, the ratings war began as the promotions started competing against one another.

 How did we figure out the rates? By rating our reaction to the overall show on a scale of 1-10, and then converting that to a formula that would lead the “rate” to resemble a television viewers rating. This was inspired by our possession of PWI Magazines that reported the weekly Monday rates (then in the 3.0 range).

 The WWF would experience a number of changes, struggling with the growing popularity of the USWA, it would shut down (ending the long run of the original and more revered WWF) and reopen multiple times, changing it’s acronym several times in an attempt to constantly remain fresh. The ECW would experience the same transformation throughout the year, eventually becoming the UCWF. One new star to be produced by these changes would be Phobe (a Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame Phoebus doll), towering over and dethroning Gonzales at 14’!

 This atmosphere of elevated interest and competition drove all three competitors to look for new talent; the USWA introduced Kane, WWF brought in another Kane to be known as Agramon (the more sadistic of all four Callaways). A massive marvel character later named Armageddon would enter the realm of wrestling, as would Slammu’s worst enemies, Rip and Slammer (the latter being a Big Slammu figure).

 Woody the Second would be caught up in an epic feud with Metalhead over the king of the Ring and then the world title, leading to Woody’s departure, but not before introducing his own son (later known as the Crock) to take his place. Blaster and Mickey’s feud would lead them and the promotion through a great deal of changes (catapulting Blaster to the top of the ranks, where he would adopt the “Stone Cold” gimmick, and causing Mickey to assert himself as the ultimate heal and later create the Corporation). Blaster’s path towards the top would eventually lead him to cross paths with Soultaker (who’d defeated Slammu for the USWA prize at Wrestlemania 2), from whom he’d win the championship. There would also be a large influx of veteran WWF stars into the USWA, including Splinter, Krusader and Ventura.

 The USWA dominated much of 1998, even challenging the other two to a joint PPV spectacular (with a 60-Man, Two Ring Battle Royal to be won by Jeff Murrey’s promotion; CWA). Mickey even extended the hours of his flagship Monday Broadcast (Raw) to Four Hours long. The one real, viable threat to USWA’s supremacy was the UCWF, a jointly-ran promotion by James’ step brother and him, but would later crumble and split under the growing tension between the two.

 In 1999, the USWA was relatively unscathed, fending off the disoriented competition that kept folding and restarting. The Hell’s Keeper (a modified Triple H figure) would be introduced, the Royal Rumble would feature 100 Participants and two rings (for the first of three times), Giant Gonzales would marry Amber, and the Soultaker would create the Hell’s Disciples (consisting of Keeper, Drakus [an old-edge figure] and a number of other dark figures, which would soon merge with the Corporation to form the Apocalyptic Corporation). Later in the year, Raw would be reduced back to two hours as the Crock stole the “Y2J” gimmick (continuing a tradition of stealing others’ gimmicks).

 The year 2000 would be a different story. USWA’s competition was growing increasingly frustrated with its inability to depose the USWA. A character named Midget Hogan (a Hasbro Hulk Hogan figure, who became popular in ECW back in 1996 for his cowardly tactics during battle royals, wherein he would hide under the ring throughout the duration thereof, only to emerge when his chances at victory would be near 50%) would gain superstar status upon winning a Million Dollar Bounty that had been placed on Blaster’s head in the Rumble (Blaster was #1 out of 100) by Mickey. At Wrestlemania 4, Keeper would become Champion, thus leading to the beginning of the Apocalyptic Corporation’s demise.

 Richard Dredd Venom (Ric Venom for short) was a character inspired by Vic Venom (Vince Russo) in real life, and just like his inspiration, Ric became popular writing articles critiquing the developments of pro-wrestling in USWA magazines. When Vince K. McMahon was terminated as USWA’s President in late 1998, Ric was elected to succeed him. He was later impeached, removed from office and imprisoned on a litany of charges ranging from bribery, to obstruction of justice. Upon his release from USWA’s own private prison, Ric assumed his position as a Color Commentator on weekly broadcasts of Raw and even began feuding with the promoter (John Brown) of an Independent Organization named the WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation).

 In 2000, Venom would be invited to World Championship Wrestling (owned by Kevin Kelly) as a special guest broadcaster, alongside himself and Vinnie Mouse (USWA’s first President, who’d left to join the WWF in 1998) during USWA’s break. Kelly would later ask the former USWA President to assume a position as WCW Commissioner to help contend with the radical and out of control WCW President, Shane Murphy. What would follow would be Kelly’s worst nightmare as Venom, Vinnie and Murphy teamed up to systematically dismantle the WCW, ruining the career of Lex Luger (forcing him to clean up after every broadcast) and ending that of Phobe’s with Slammer’s help!! A week after Murphy, Vinnie and Venom brought the WCW down; Kelly was forced to open the XPW.

 Also, in 2000, the USWA would meet it’s final and most formidable threat to prominence; the BAWA (Bad Ass Wrestling Alliance). An organization that featured insane sets, constant music play, and the debut of Sabu and Attitude (Sabu’s protégé). It was a joint venture, operated by three different people. Needless to say, while it posed a viable challenge, it didn’t survive the test of time (i.e., the summer).

 By year’s end, the USWA concluded another year on top of the ranks, as the “Millionaire” Midget Hogan controversially acquired the USWA Championship, with the help of his bodyguard, Baldy (a generic toy wrestling figure). Kicking off the LONGEST and most painful of any USWA title reign, spanning 109 Days.

 In 2001, the USWA stood alone by a long shot at the top of toy wrestling’s ranks. The first four months consisted of relentless efforts by USWA’s talent to relieve Hogan of the belt he stole in December of the preceding year. When that sought after moment finally occurred, it was Jesse Ventura who captured the belt, who – despite his heel status – brought about record ratings as a result!

 In a feud that had been developing since the previous fall, Splinter and Blaster were battling for supremacy. At one point, Splinter seemed to have gotten the best of Blaster, due to their feud, neither would advance to a title shot at Wrestlemania 5, but would instead duel in a career match that ended in Spinter’s favor. However, in a conspiracy at the following King of the Ring roughly 2 months later, Blaster would return, at the behest of Mickey (as his agent of chaos), and assist Slammu – also in on the scheme – in defeating Splinter for the crown. Mickey would subsequently fire Splinter following his fall.

 In July, a freak occurrence would lead to Ric Venom’s acquisition of the World Title, leading Mickey to vacate the title, resulting in a 3-plus hour long tournament that crowned Booker D as the new champion. By this point, Booker D, one half of a legendary copy-cat tag team (the Harlem Turtles) with his brother Stevie R (a team who emulated tag teams from the New Age Outlaws, Harlem Turtles, Dudley Boys, Legion of Doom/Legion of Maniacs, and even the Hardy Boyz).

 As the summer wound down, Vinnie Mouse had gone off the reservation, running his own promotion (the EWF) and capturing his own Women’s Championship as well as the World Title later on out of sheer boredom with what he perceived to be a lack of talent in his roster, and the USWA entered a state of division. The age of stables seemed to be over with the collapse of the Apocalyptic Corporation (brought upon by Mickey’s inclusion of Blaster therein), and a massive termination of rejects/underdogs in addition to a rebellious Hell’s Disciples (who broke off from the AC out of protest for the aforementioned inclusion of Blaster).

 Lenny Mouse, the third eldest out of the four, and President of the USWA, would partner with Jane Mouse, Mickey’s wife, to establish the BFCW (Bad F**king Championship Wrestling), modeled after the BAWA, to air every Monday directly following USWA’s programming. The first champion in a full-roster battle royal was the Forsaker. With fall on the horizon, John Brown’s WWWF was rechristened the HCW (Hardcore Championship Wrestling), and immediately became allies with BFCW.

 A few weeks after the forgery of said alliance, the USWA started staging regular invasions of their potential future threats, and in the midst of a Special Six-Hour long episode of Raw, the BFCW retaliated!

 A month and half long vacation would follow this broadcast, but upon its conclusion, the HCW would strike back, at the USWA’s Rage PPV in September, with the introduction of their new star, Rhyno! A few weeks later, Jane Mouse and Lenny Mouse unveiled an extramarital affair experienced between them during the break, provoking Mickey to create a PPV with the sole intent of exacting his revenge (Wrath of Mickey), and eventually leading to the declaration of war between the USWA and BFCW. HCW would follow suit about a week later, in siding with their ally.

 With 2001 drawing to a close, the USWA began to fall apart a bit more, with former ECW stars banning together to oppose both the Allegiance (BFCW/HCW/Hell’s Disciples) and the USWA, calling themselves the ECW Loyalists, led by Rob Van Dam. In December, at USWA/BFCW’s Revolution PPV, the BFCW would secure their independence from Mickey’s iron fist, thus propelling the war to its next stage. Slammu, working on behalf of the USWA, would capture the BFCW, HCW and USWA championships in one match, becoming the only superstar to ever achieve such a feat (being that RVD held all three championships from separate victories going in to said match).

 A sudden double pin controversy for the World Title would throw the championship into limbo for over two months until a tournament at the Sixth and Final Wrestlemania resolved the matter, with Masked Phenom capturing the prize. In the midst of a storyline twist involving Blaster, Mickey and Lenny, Mickey would end up losing the World Title to Lenny, creating another urgent need for a tournament. Mickey made the King of the Ring winner the champion, who ended up being Blaster in a controversial outcome.

 After the DWO (Degenerate World Order), ECW Loyalists and Y2Family (Crock, Jill and Y2Bitch) joined forces, Mickey terminated them and kicked off an effort to annihilate all of his enemies (including Blaster) with his secret weapon, the monstrous El Gigante!! El Gigante would go on to claim the King of the Ring crown and become the last world champion.

 Sometime between the vacation of the world title and Summerslam 2002, Ric Venom would sustain major and purportedly fatal injuries from an accident, only to fool everyone weeks later with his return and announcement of his own intentions: the use of his partial ownership of the USWA to rehire the DWO, Y2Family and ECW Loyalists to create the Venom Regime, with the sole purpose of extinguishing the last remnants of the Second Era in wrestling!

 Out of these culminating events, would emerge one last showdown, at USWA/BFCW’s Armageddon 3 in September 2002, headlined by a 15-Man, 3-team Elimination Tag Match called “Project Extermination”. The chief stipulation being that the leader of the victorious team (Mickey, Lenny or Venom) would gain full ownership of all of all involved. In the end,  Slammer of the USWA and Slammu of the Allegiance would conspire with RVD of the Venom Regime against Blaster (who returned at the last moment to fight for the promotion that made him after spending the duration of the war in a neutral stance) to hand Ric Venom the victory and deal a deadly blow to the USWA and BFCW. The HCW would be left standing, as it had a loose involvement in the match.

 Individual Wrestler Footnotes from Second Era:

 Jesse Ventura/Giant Gonzales: After a few months of feuding in early 1998, Giant Gonzales and Paul Wight would ban together to form the Giants, but when Wight elected to betray Gonzales in favor of joining the NOW, Jesse Ventura took his spot and thusly the legendary New Giants were created. This team dominated the tag division for a little while, joined HBP’s DX and even broke off from that stable to create their own “DX-Xtreme”. However, Jesse’s decision to join Mickey’s Corporation in 1999-2000 would lead to the end of their team.

 Masked Gonzales: In 1998, Giant Gonzales would be forced to come face to face with a long-lost brother of his, the “deformed” and deranged Masked Gonzales. Masked Gonzales turned out to be far more vicious than his brother and a tad taller.

 El Gigante: Another one of Giant Gonzales’ greatest foes would come in the form of El Gigante (translated “The Gigantic”, although we mistakenly pronounced his name as “El Giante” or “The Giant”). He, like Phobe and Masked Gonzales, was taller than Giant Gonzales and was interested in bringing about his demise. Mickey would use this HCW original to carry out his evil deeds, deeming him the “Secret Weapon”.

 Steve Austin/Blaster/Squeaker: Prior to the inter-promotional feud that would soon emerge between Murrey’s Steve Austin and Mickey’s Blaster, Austin would take upon himself a protégé, the young Squeaker. Squeaker (an action figure similar to John Brown, only with all limbs intact) was a high flyer who used many of Steve Austin’s trademark maneuvers. By the end of 1999, Squeaker’s involvement in wrestling would dwindle down to little more than an occasional special guest.

 Zeek: A short long-haired guy (same figure as Y2Bitch) with a likable personality. However, despite his popularity, wrestling’s instability outside of the USWA would claim him as yet another casualty.

 Stan Hart/Chet Hart: Hart brothers, both of whom kicked off their careers in the USWA. Chet was a Bret Hart figure while Stan was an Owen “Black Heart” Hart figure.

 Scratchy/Scratcher: As two of the HCW’s creations, these brothers often dominated the independent promotion and even carried their success over to the USWA, which would routinely reach out to HCW for new talent. Scratchy, the more recognizable and famous of the two in this era, used a modified stunner from the top rope (called the “Scratch”) as his finisher and feuded with the light heavyweight talent in the USWA up until it’s closure in September 2002.

 Granddaddy Duxen/The Duxens: This family was from the southern edge of Appalachia and was well known for the usage of the skills they picked up from hunting in the mountains and partaking in their local militias. Granddaddy Duxen, their taller (seeing that his grandsons were 3 feet tall/light heavyweight) grandfather, was a little off his rocker. He may very well have suffered from Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and maintained that he was a world class boxing champion. The man also had horrible body odor, but elected after a while of enduring relentless insults pertaining to such to become obsessed with bathing and ensuring that all those around him bathed regularly. He also made a habit of demanding that his opponent respect their elders and would challenge them to a brief, one knock-out boxing match (within the wrestling match) which he would also refer to as a “boxing tournament”, and within which he would always cheat to secure his victory.

 The Godwinns/Southern Justice: Phinneas and Henry Godwinn would bring with them their extended family (cousins), including Jerry, Dan and John. Over time, as the five all descended upon the same promotion, they would unite to form the most powerful and reviled stable of its time called Southern Justice, led by John and adorned in KKK like outfits as a direct message to their “enemy”; obviously all non-American, Non-Christian, Non-Human athletes.

 Harlem Turtles: TR and TD (More Human-like version of Raphael and Donatello) debuted in Jeff Murrey’s promotion in 1998 as a pair of idiotic, stoned, surfer-accent bearing turtles who hadn’t a clue as to how they should so much as pick up a victory. As time passed, the USWA would notice and develop an interest in obtaining their services. Upon such, the Turtles completely transformed. While maintaining their accents, they took it upon themselves to adopt the gimmicks and move sets of various popular tag teams such as “Harlem Heat”, “Legion of Doom”, “New Age Outlaws” and even the “Hardy Boyz”. As a part of this, they would rename themselves Stevie R and Booker D of the Harlem Turtles. Needless to say, to this date, they are unsurpassed by any other tag team relating to their dominance of every tag division they’ve been a part of.

 The Bookers: Distant Cousins of Booker T; Booker C and Booker X came up from the HCW and established a decent tag team.

 The Crock: Between he and his father, Crock is the crazy one. The Crock possessed many of his father’s traits, but took everything a step further. A defining moment for his career came about when his feud with Rocky Johnson J.R. (younger brother of the Rock, who called himself Rock 2) permitted him to secure the gimmick that would lay the foundation for his successful career. Later on, in 1999, he would adopt the “Y2-” gimmick as a parody of both Chris Jericho (in a rival promotion) and Y2K by calling himself Y2C and using Jericho’s theme music. A feud with Krusader sparked by their conflicting desires for the deathmatch gold would span the year 2000. In 2001, in the midst of his feud with Kurt Angle, Crock stole Angle’s outfit and rechristened himself “Kirk Angel”, doing this until he lost to Angle in a gimmick match at the 2001 King of the Ring.

 Agramon/Kane Two: In 1998, as the Callaway brothers began to emerge en masse from their proverbial shells, the WWF saw the emergence of the most vile among them: Agramon. Upon arriving on the scene, he would target the Undertaker and even hint at cross-promotional encounters with his brethren in the USWA (Kane and Soultaker). After less than a year in the limelight, Agramon slipped off the radar. At about this time, Kane Two – a new addition to the HCW – would come into the picture. This wouldn’t be a coincidence, as time would certainly show.

 Slammer: Little is known about this character’s origin, other than the fact he seemed to be introduced for the sole purpose of posing a viable threat and challenge to the dominant Slammu of USWA. It didn’t take long for Mickey to take interest in Slammer’s ruthless approach as he would acquire Slammer’s services shortly after watching Slammer put Phobe on the shelf in 2000.

 Ron Snow: The brother of Al Snow in ECW, Ron of the USWA was just as crazy and would even establish his own stable for the mentally disconnected: the J.O.B. Squad.

 HBP, HBB, HB: Heartbreak Punk Shaun Michaels, Heartbreak Boy Jean Michaels, and the Heartbreaker Sean Michaels were all brothers, absent of any relation to HBK in the WWF. HBP and HB were once a unit known as the HBKs, but when they split (seeing HB lead the rebel DX-Xtreme with Giant Gonzales and Jesse Ventura), HBB came in as HB’s replacement. Eventually, the three would be reunited in the midst of the Allegiance War to help bring down the very promotion they sought to wreak havoc in.

 The Claws: Iron Claw, leader of the Nation of Domination (prior to and after Slammu led), Steel Claw, his tag team partner, Titanium Claw, the evil Claw who was determined to destroy his brothers and Metallic Claw, the late-comer.

 Saguna/Molly: Throughout the course of the USWA’s run, Molly and Saguna were an item. At some point along the line, they were married and even forged an effective tag team, dominating the Light Heavyweight Tag Division of the USWA, thus making Molly the first woman to be effective in competition with her male peers.

 Sally: Resembling Molly, but preceding her, this now iconic figure of the female involvement in wrestling (whether it be as a valet or diva) laid the foundation for such as the pioneer. In due time, she would eventually marry Vinnie Mouse and fade into the shadows of wrestling.

 The Apocalyptic Corporation: The Corporation emerged as part of an effort by Mickey to overwhelm Blaster with a constant threat against his popularity, influence and knack for rebounding and overcoming adversity. It would spread in the coming months to threaten everyone who dared to question Mickey. Essentially the Corporation became Mickey’s militantly loyal special forces unit, charged with carrying out the boss’s will, and instilling fear into the talent, thus making him a tyrant. However, as the Soultaker proceeded to aggrandize his own power, he began recruiting followers or “Disciples” to his own cause; to cover the USWA in darkness and reign supreme there over. Eventually it became inevitable that the paths of these two mega stables would cross, and cross they did. With Blaster assuming the position as the chief rival to both organizations, the likelihood of an alliance became unavoidable, and soon it was realized. At the peak of its power, the AC had over 20 members, most which gunned for Blaster on a weekly basis, but in the end, it would be Blaster’s heel turn that took him into membership with this Mega Stable that would become the lethal blow required to bring it down once and for all. All in all, from the birth of the Corporation, to the collapse of the AC, it’s tenure lasted from September 1998 until July 2001, an unprecedented feat for any stable.

 Muddy: A goon/henchman to Benny and then Vinnie. His sole purpose was to protect and destroy at the behest of the one he guarded.

 Darkwarrior: Debuted in a PPV Twist involving the first encounter between Blaster and Mickey at the 1998 Survivor Series in a cage match. Becoming one of the first five Corporate Members and eventually the key to merging the Corporation and the Hell’s Disciples as the Corporate Member who Soultaker saw fit to sacrifice.

 Splidder, Shocker: The brothers of Master Splinter, Shocker being the less experienced and exposed of the three. Splidder would become one of Splinter’s staunchest adversaries, including an iconic Crimson Car Match in the ECW (a match pioneered by the famous war between Splinter and Gripper).

 Teo/Attitude: Sabu mentored a young man named Attitude, who took to the stage rather slowly at first. Teo was a charismatic and narcissistic rookie who saw nothing but potential for what could be in his future. These two stellar performers would initially engage in a feud that would help to develop a bond and a partnership that reached into the next era.

 Jake Jericho: A relative of Chris Jericho with mild exposure in the independent circuit and briefly in the ECW.

 Lacy Brown: A common weapon in Ric Venom’s arsenal in his weekly commentary spats with John Brown was to integrate John Brown’s infamous and relatively reclusive wife Lacy in the discussion. Ric would regularly claim to have slept with Lacy, to which John would respond with fierce anger. This too would bleed into the next era.