Inside The Tights

[Grind_Bastard]

By the way if anyone wants to ask Tommy Thunder a question the viewer question is still open. Grind's has already been picked. Just PM me and your question might end up in the interview.

Good moment to start writing.

[TheDevilsAdvocate]

I submitted a question for the wrong person. Ultra fail.

[wrestlingfan66513]

There has been to much of a show gap, so I am going ahead and posting Tommy's interview to keep interest up. New show coming now

[wrestlingfan66513]

Welcome to another new edition of the Inside the Tights! Last week, bear filled in for me so I could go ahead and knock my interview out of the way. This week we have one have one of the most respected members in efedding as our guest. Get ready as we get to go Inside the Tights of Tommy Thunder.

First off welcome to the show, now for those unfamiliar with your work, can you describe your characters here and any creative positions you have?

Thank you very much for having me. I've been greatly looking forward to doing this interview!
I don't have too many characters in the feds. I'll start off with my more unfamiliar characters;

First and foremost, I think it's time to reveal to those unaware that I am indeed the man behind The Blue Flash character in EWNCW. I created that character a while back after EWNCW had Keith Stone appear on some shows, much like the character does on WWE shows from time to time. I then created a Keith Stone account to IC as Keith Stone. I then had the idea of creating an alter ego for Stone with him leading a double life as a superhero, and so The Blue Flash was born! He's just been an extra character to have in EWNCW's Ignition division to put some guys over really, but who knows, more might come in future.

Next up, is 'The Pimp T-Thunda. The character was created as a joke to scare a troll in the EWNCW thread. You all might remember DJ Black and his alter ego accounts; kickass, supercenasucks amongst others? Well after he was banned, he reappeared under another of his created accounts that hadn't been banned. I picked up on it and decided to have some fun at his expense via the newly created character T-Thunda, which was a combination of crazy R-Truth, The Godfather and The Pope D'Angelo Dinero.
Since then I along with CGBigman and Grind went on to form a stable called 'The Sexiest Alpha Males' to compete in Brutality. We've been pretty successful and well received (I think lol) and hopefully there's more to come from the stable in future!

My most popular character is Tommy Thunder. He's competed in several feds here on EWN including a short stint in (the now defunct) ICW, (the now defunct) HWA where he was a 2 time World Champion and the longest reigning World Champion, and of course in the fed I'm mostly associated with; EWNCW, where he's a former Forum Champion (now called the Ignition Championship), former International Champion, former disputed EWNCW World Champion (now called the World Heavyweight Champion), and current EWNCW Champion.
He's been in EWNCW from the start pretty much, and it's been a blast all the way.
As far as the character development goes, Thunder started off as a Mr Kennedy style, self-announcing wrestler. I continued that gimmick until I (keyfabe) left EWNCW. When I came back I adopted a CM Punk, straight talking, controversial, no bullshit style character. Thunder has been face his entire EWNCW career thus far.
Thunder has been heel however. In HWA I portrayed a Chris Jericho-esque heel character, with some Miz and Scott Steiner thrown in there. In fact, I drew a lot of inspiration from Steiner promos when in HWA!

In the WWE fed I'm portraying DDP. It's just an extra character that I'm having some fun with that I thought would be useful to fill out the roster.

In the WWE fed, I'm portraying Chris Jericho. I'm having a great time doing him since he's one of my all time favorites. I'm lucky enough to have been successful from the start since joining this fed with Jericho. Jericho won the Royal Rumble, and then went on to win the WWE Championship in the main event at Wrestlemania, and he's still the WWE Champion to this day. I'm very lucky and grateful for that honor.

As far as creative positions go, I've been part of EWNCW's creative team for going on a year and a half now, starting back in August 2011. I've also been in charge of the fed since about September/October 2011, and have had a great time doing that, working with a great team all the way, and a great roster. There's been ups and downs along the way, mostly ups, but one thing that's been a constant is that EWNCW always pull through. And that's a credit to the people I've worked with throughout the time I've been in charge.
I also did some writing work for HWA towards the end of their run as I helped Asher with their Total Resistance show, which was a mix of NXT (the old format) and Tough Enough. That was also great fun to do, just a shame we never got to see it through.

It's no secret you have had a big impact on the feds, but what have been some of your favorite moments in efedding that you have been apart of?

Man, how much time do we have and where to begin?! As I mentioned earlier, there's been many ups and many downs in the roller-coaster that has been my time here, it's hard to pick just a few.

I'll start at the top, and some people might not like this, but there we go; the biggest highlight for me was way back on a Monday night, August the 1st, 2011. Monday night Rage. The night that rocked the e-fed section like no other night. I was by then in charge of writing Monday night Rage for EWNCW, and we were just a few shows into the genesis of the show. I was aware of some tension that was surrounding the e-fed section at the time with some unsettling rumours flying around regarding some people and their characters. One was that Kev wanted out of EWNCw. He'd just PM'ed me a night or 2 before the show was to be posted saying that he wanted out of EWNCW. Secondly, it was no secret that SG wanted out of EWNCW. Why? Who knows, I never got an answer. But he did. At the time, Kev was our champion (that wasn't my booking choice might I add), and Shuriken (SG's character) was the main contender. Another thing that had just happened around this time was WWE's MITB ppv and CM Punk 'leaving' WWE with the WWE Championship. With all this information in my head, I set about writing. I also played up the public rumors by posting some suggestive posts in the JBW thread suggesting that Thunder might be one of the talents that was leaving EWNCW and jumping.
Anyway, we had a storyline going on at the time with an anonymous GM, so I decided to reveal that GM there and then as Night Wolf. I then booked Shuriken into a EWNCW World title match at the next ppv. I then booked a main event match of Kev defending his title against Tommy Thunder (who was at the time the International Champion), with a stipulation that if Kev lost, he'd be fired. There was no way that Kev was going to walk out the easy way after the way he was screwing us and flip flopping back and forth every few months. Enough was enough.
So as it all unfolded, the main event came around and Kev sure enough lost the match and was fired from EWNCW. However, instead of ending the show there and then, I swerved it all by continuing the show. I then went on to have Night Wolf come out with a new long term contract offer for Thunder to sign. Instead of signing however, I wrote it so that Thunder snubbed the contract and took both the titles and climbed up the stairs through the crowd, with a mic, and proceeded to cut a promo. In short, the promo was me announcing that I was 'leaving' the company, and sure enough that's how the show went off air, with Thunder exiting the building with both the International title and the World title, in a CM Punk style fashion.

[wrestlingfan66513]

Of course, it was all keyfabe and I had planned it so that I would return on EWNCW programming in a couple of weeks time in time for the next ppv where I would face Shuriken, but I made a big mistake. I did all of the above without consulting anyone on creative. I did let eboy (who was my sub writer on Rage) know just after I did it, but I didn't let Grind or TBOZ (who was in charge of the fed at the time) know. In hindsight, that was a huge mistake on my part, and if I could do it again, that's what I'd change, but other than that, I have ZERO regrets about the above. Some people might not like that, but I don't care. The simple fact of the matter is, EWNCW was the talk of the e-fed section for the next week, and not just in our own thread, in the JBW thread too. And that's no exageration, no matter what anyone else says. That's the stone cold truth. I was surprised by how many didn't even consider for one second that there was even the possibility that it even COULD have been a work. A good deal of people instantly jumped to the conclusion that it was all legit and that I had actually booked myself to win the main title and then walk out of the company with 2 titles and screw over EWNCW by going to another company. I was truly stunned that people thought I would do that. I would NEVER do that to EWNCW or any other fed I was involved with. On the other hand, others did play along with it and invested into the storyline, and to those people I say thank you, because you guys are the true wrestling fans. The way I see it though, is any publicity is good publicity. And to all those who did think that I legit booked myself to win the title and then try and screw over EWNCW and actually jump ship; f**k you. I proved you wrong. Because had you people sat back like everyone else and watched the storyline unfold, you would have seen just 2 weeks later what would have happened.
Even though that tensions did run high behind the scenes due to me not telling TBOZ about all of this, it was all worked out in the end and the storyline played out fine, just as it was meant to. Thunder came back as the disputed World Champion and went on to put over Gillz (who won a tournament for the new title) to crown him as the undisputed EWNCW World Champion at Day of Reckoning.

Again, I have NO regrets about doing the above, because it created a buzz that had never before been had and never has been since in the e-fed section. And it's definitely the highlight of my time here in the feds.

As far as other highlights go, I'd say that Thunder winning the EWNCW Championship for the first time at Rise from the Ashes was a great moment for me. My first real world title.
Winning the HWA World Championship for the first time was special for me, but winning it for the second time was even nicer. Thunder won the Golden Fate Royal Rumble match and then went on to main event Victory Point (HWA's Wrestlemania) and beat David Sullivan for the title in a career ending match. I again played up in the thread that I was leaving HWA that night, but it was Thunder who won and ended Sullivan's career. A nice moment to become the only 2 time HWA World Champion.

How did EWNCW vs JBW happen in the first place and in your opinion what do you think caused it to be a fiasco as some members have called it?

This is going to be another long one, s I apologize up front about that!

It came about when Kash contacted me back in November of last year. I wasn't too long after I'd taken over as head of EWNCW, just a month or 2. There had always been people saying that they wanted to see EWNCW vs JBW or some matches that would pit characters from each company against each other, but it never happened, that is of course, until we did this cross brand thing.
After exchanging PM's, we came to the conclusion that we'd have a total of 5 shows in a series called 'EWNCW vs JBW: Battle Lines'. We then decided that we'd have EWNCW 'win' 2 shows, JBW 'win' 2 shows (as in get the most wins from each show) and then the final show would end in a draw after the deciding match between Tommy Thunder and Massdinero would end in a draw and a handshake between both, thus showing that there was no hard feelings between both companies. But of course, we never got to see that.
Anyway, we set about getting too the creative process of this, and we created a brand new forum for it (similar to the EWNCW batcave or any other HQ that the creative teams use), and we all would discuss plans in there. However, it was evident from the get go that it just wasn't going to work. There was way too much difference in opinion, there was way too much ego flying about with certain creative members not willing to have their characters lose, and the clash in style between both companies was just too much to handle. Some were so opposed to it after just a few discussions they actually left creative. Rich (Cranium) stepped down from creative at EWNCW even before the creative process started, since he new it just wouldn't work (I wish I'd followed suit). Torphy also stepped away from it after clashes with the 2 senior members of the JBW creative team (don't blame him one bit).
The whole creative process was just a nightmare and it was near impossible to work in all honesty. The fact that whatever anyone suggested was being undermined by 2 guys was just ridiculous. We did manage to get the first show out, but that alone had been a massive struggle. Here's a true story; Torphy and Zapphoman were in charge of writing the first show. Zap disappeared leaving Torphy to do the work alone. Torphy designed a card for the show, a perfectly good and reasonable card, everyone seemed happy until Kash came in and virtually tore it to pieces, wrote his own entirely new card, and declared that that would be the final card used. Fair booking? I think not. And if anyone wants to deny that, then you can just ask Torphy and he'll confirm it for you.
The process of sorting the second show was even slower and even worse, so in the end I just decided to pul the plug on it from EWNCW's end and go back to continue with EWNCW. I mean we stopped doing regular shows about December, and it was now February and we'd only managed to get one of the 5 proposed shows out, and about 3 EWNCW supershows to plug the gap. If we'd continued with the cross fed thing, we'd probably still be here today trying to get the 4th or 5th show out, and as a result, neither company would likely still be here.
In fact, such was the crippling effect of not having any regular shows during this time, I was skeptical at one point if EWNCW would ever be back, but luckily, once we got the ball rolling, we came back and better than ever, as we see us today. The same however can't be said about JBW, since they went on to have about 2 more shows after that and it's only recently after a much needed change behind the scenes that they seem to have a chance of getting back to being an e-fed again.
In conclusion, agreeing to do the EWNCW vs JBW cross fed 'war' is hands down the worst decision I've ever made as head of EWNCW. I'd like to think that I haven't done a bad job at running the fed, but making the call to do that was a very foolish and naive move, and I have to apologize to the roster and the creative team we had at the time for going in to do that.
I did at one point say to myself that EWNCW will NEVER do anything similar to that EVER again as long as I'm in charge. But I have to say, that the main problems behind the way we went about it last time was:

A) the egotistical mindset of the JBW creative team at the time .
B) the lack of disorganization (for the record, Torphy wrote most of the show that was posted, and Grind wasn't exactly having a lot of help in writing the second show). I mean something of that magnitude needed months of planning, and we should never have stopped doing regular shows until we had a card set in stone ready for the first show to be written.
C) And the fact that both feds weren't familiar with each other, making it hard for characters from both sides to IC with each other.

I think it CAN be done, but it needs a lot of organization. If the same creative team as before was in charge of JBW, then I wouldn't think of doing it again for one second. But now that there's been a changing of the guard, I have a lot more faith that something could be worked between the 2 current teams. And before you ask, no, there hasn't been any discussions for another cross fed event of any sort since the last time. But that's not to say there won't be at some point in the future. Never say never I think is the best way of putting it.

I would also like to stress that there is NO, ZERO animosity between EWNCW and JBW, and also any animosity between myself and Kash, or R(ob) or whoever else at the time the above fiasco went down is strictly business. On a personal level, I have no problem with them whatsoever. But when it comes to creative business, we're just different, and have different ideas of how to go about conducting things.
Again, I don't have a problem with them but when it comes to doing creative business, we're chalk and cheese, and don't mix well together. And I'm sure than the rest of the EWNCW team from the time would agree.

[wrestlingfan66513]

How did the merger of BWA occur and how has having a show for just tag teams been for EWNCW?

Merging with BWA has been great. It's given EWNCW an unique selling point that no other fed offers.

It came about around the time that there was a lot of talk about too many feds on the site. For the record, there's still too many fed on the site. That's not to say that they're not good, because all the active feds we currently have; EWNCW/TWE, JBW, IWA, and the WWE fed are all of excellent quality. But I'm still not sure if there's need for all of them. We're in a much better situation that we have been though when we had about 6+ feds on the site!
But anyway, at this time, there were way too many feds on EWN, and one suggestion that was brought up was for current feds to merge together. Vegas was in charge of BWA at the time, and given that he was involved with EWNCW with some characters, I stared discussing with him the possibilities of merging BWA with EWNCW. After a few discussion, we decided that we would do it, and that BWA would become a 3rd brand for EWNCW, keeping it's tag team only format. And after BWA had it's final ppv; War Is The Answer (one of if not the best ppv this site has seen IMO), it transformed into the brand that's now knows as Brutality.
The change has worked out great I think, and as I said, it offers something that no other fed offers. In EWNCW tag teams have the chance to main event a ppv, since the top title on Brutality is held on a level playing field as the top title of Inferno and Rage. What I try and do is alternate each ppv which main title main events. But in no other fed do tag teams have the chance to fight for the top prize in the main event of a ppv.
I have to admit that interest in Brutality has wavered at times, but recently, I think it's actually picked up a good bit with a couple of new teams forming, and one returning.
But because of the wavering interest, we as creative have discussed possible changes we can make to the brand that would make interest pick up to the same level that Rage and Inferno get interest. I can't and won't disclose what's been discussed since I don't know what changes, if any, will be made. But Brutality has become a great part of EWNCW and offers a great platform for anyone who likes tag team wrestling in the feds.

Did you guys make any attempts at acquiring AWF, and if you did what happened?

Nope EWNCW never made any attempt to acquire AWF. During the first bout of 'there's too many feds disease', the 2 feds that people were talking about merging were BWA and AWF. JBW 'acquired' AWF and we 'acquired' BWA. Nothing more to it really. EWNCW got BWA on board and I wasn't going to try and be greedy since it's not my style so I never made an attempt to have AWF become part of EWNCW.

What do you think of the state of efedding now compared to last year?

Right now, this very moment I think it's in a a decent position to what it's been earlier this year. We've currently got 3 (if you count TWE separately) solid feds providing weekly shows without fail pretty much, and you've also got JBW now well on track to getting back to providing weekly shows too.
At this point last year, EWNCW and JBW were both at a virtual standstill because of our intention to have a cross fed event, so a big chunk of the top feds of EWN were down and out there. As I previously mentioned, JBW never recovered form that crippling stop until very recently when the much needed change behind the scenes took place.
We also this year saw the ridiculous enigma that was aloisick. That guy nearly spoiled e-fedding for everyone.
And who could forget the ridiculous happenings with the HWA crew? HWA at the time was IMO the best fed on EWN, but that was all thrown out the window because of the stupidity and immaturity of a few guys. Ridiculous.

I'd say right now however, e-fedding is in a stable position and has a strong foothold to build to get back to as good as it was before. Some bad eggs were amongst us, but as time has gone on, they've been weeded out. Now hopefully there aren't any left and we can continue to build the e-fedding section back to what it's meant to be about; having fun.

This year we have seen a lot of new guys enter with various characters, what guys have caught your eye in EWNCW so far.

Man, that's a tough one. There's been so many new guys this year that's done a great job it's hard to pick out just a few.

One name that instantly comes to mind is Eddie. He's been a revelation, both as a creative guy and with his characters. Eddie was one of the main reasons HWA was such a success, and he's done a great job helping out with the WWE fed too. You can see the impact and boost he's given JBW. I can confidently say that it won't be long until JBW gets back to producing regular shows, and Eddie's a big part of the reason why I think that. I've also been lucky enough having him write a few matches for EWNCW recently, and of course he did a great job with that.
Kyojin, Eddie's best character, emerged on the scene this year, and is a character I'm a big fan of. I'm lucky enough to have him involved in EWNCW, and I know that he will have success in EWNCW as long as Eddie puts as much effort as he usually does into the character. I see shades of Shuriken (SG's character) in Kyojin, but I truly believe that Kyojin has the potential to be even better than Shuriken.

I'd say Shaz is another that's burst onto the scene and imposed himself on the feds this year. His promos have gotten better and better, and he's now well on his way to the top IMO. He's also started out on the creative side of things and is steadily getting to grips with that side of things.

Another member that's joined this year and really jumped in the deep end is bear. Been in charge of a couple of feds (had a bit of a wobbly bit when ICW closed and all that, but we'll excuse that bit), and always delivers quality. His main character Chris divine is also one that's definitely working his way up the ladder and will hopefully be a mainstay in the feds for a long time to come.

I could go on a while here. Van is another that's definitely going places. Always turns in good stuff.
AirBourne is another who's improved a LOt in 2012. Turn the clock back a year and in all honesty, his promos sucked, and he hit rock bottom when we booked him on our Christmas special show to be the special GM Santa Flair's little helper, complete with his own ridiculously under-sized elf costume. Since then though, he's gone on to really up his game and he's now amongst the best promo guys in EWNCW on the face side of things IMO. Definitely the most improved in all the feds from what I've seen.
eyehatecena, yourself EHC, Scribler, Vandarius, THBK are others that I think are doing very well over the past year. I'll also give Glamour Girl a shout out. She's doing a great job to enhance the female side of things in e-fedding, and it's good to see that AhleyPunk has followed her into the feds.
There's so many others I could pic out, but there are some of the newer guys that have caught my eye.

Is there anything you want the viewers to look out for in the near future?

The viewers can look forward to EWNCW climbing to new heights. We're looking as good as ever right now, have a great structure in place, we have a steady creative team in place and have an excellent roster of users with great characters across the board. I can't wait to see us getting better and better as we build towards our climax at Destiny's Calling. But in the immediate future, there's plenty of surprises up and coming, so watch put for those!

From a personal point of view, look for Tommy Thunder to continue going strong in EWNCW. I feel that the character has much to accomplish in EWNCW, such as to main event Destiny's Calling and I would like to hold the World Heavyweight Championship as some point. Plus there's plenty of people that I'd love for Thunder to have matches with; Jman and TDA are top of that list of dream matches for me.

In the WWE fed I hope to continue with Chris Jericho for as long as I can. I've been lucky to get much success already there, but there's plenty left to do I feel.

Other than that, I just hope that e-fedding will continue to be an integral part of EWN and that it will grow to be better than ever.
I also hope that everyone has a merry Christmas and a very happy new year.

[wrestlingfan66513]

Viewer Question From the Heartbreak Kid

As someone who's widely regarded as the best that efeding has to offer and someone who is respected on these forums, what are your overall feelings about the WWE Fed? Did you expect it too last and thrive like it has?.

Great question, but one that I have no doubt whatsoever about. As soon as K2Jelly first announced the concept of the WWE fed, I instantly saw that it was a good idea. I was disappointed to see that K2 didn't carry on with it and that it would likely close, but luckily, THBK took it up. But as I said, as soon as the concept was presented, I had no doubt that it would be a great concept that would catch on.

The WWE fed has offered something completely different to the other feds, and it's been a great addition to the section. It's also got a great creative team driving it, which is reflected in the quality shows that they put out and how closely they keep to their weekly schedule. As a creative guy myself, I know how hard it can be to keep putting multiple shows out on a weekly basis, but the WWE fed has done a great job on doing that.

I think that pretty much sums it up. The WWE fed has a great creative team in place, a great roster of guys supporting it, and produces great quality shows. And on top of that, I'm lucky enough to be participating in it, and having a great time doing so!

That wraps up another session of Inside The Tights! Grind's interview is next up on the list so be on the lookout for that later on the week. I hope you all enjoy the new addition of viewer questions on the show as well, Bennytheball interview is up next so if you want to ask him anything, PM me your question and you may see it on the next interview. I hope you all have a great holiday season and thank you for making the show such a big hit!

[Shaz11]

That was the best ITT so far. Thanks for the shout-out TT; really enjoyed the stories! Shaz/TT needs to happen! But seriously, great stuff!

[S.E. Zero]

What a freaking interview, took a while to read xD Worth it though. Great, great insight from Tommy.

[Torphy]

Fantastic interview, and I can vouch for Tommy, that's how things went down. Seems like a distant memory now, but one i've definitely learned from!