Sunday, May 07, 2006

So... how DO you get into the fWo?

So... how DO you get into the fWo?

It seems that a lot of people have asked that question in the past. And with my recent post/column inside Russel David's "The Mark," I figured I would go ahead and reveal how one individual, the current fWo World Heavyweight Champion, High Flyer got into the promotion.

Disregarding massive drug test, physical examination, dark match tryouts and of course, a ton of paperwork, things go about in a small application process. Below is a direct version of what was submitted. What that means to you? Interpret it as you will. What it means to the owner of the fWo at this point? Well... things have certainly changed there, but the basic fundamental concepts remain. So... for all those wondering what people did to get in... beyond a lot of trial and error... feel free to check it out.

High Flyer

Real Name: Jack Harmen

“Neighborhood Lunatic"

Also known as: Nirvana, “Reckless” Jack Harmen

Theme song: “Loco” by Coal Chamber

Alignment: Mega-Heel

Born: December 17^th, 1975

Hometown: Bethlehem,PA. Currently resides in his Winter home of Los Angeles, CA

Height: 6'0

Weight: 204 lbs. or 93 kilos.

Blood type: ???

Eye color: Blue

Teams and Associations

Team V.I.A.G.R.A.(w/Tony Davis & Rob Kestler), Fueled by V.I.A.G.R.A.(w/Tony Davis, Chris Titan, Chris Register), The Cult(Jax Stone, Al Coholic, Chris Anthony, Ken War, Dark Wolf, & Justin Shack)

Manager: Kate Young-Harmen

Trainer: Jeremy Odessa

Wrestling Style

Wrestling style: Technical Luchador

Common spots: Submissions: Flyerboard(Romero Chinlock), Face Cut into Crossface

Aerials: *****½ Frogsplash, Shooting Star Press, Diving hudaconrada, Springboard corkscrew moonsault headscissor takeover, Springboard Lou Thesz Press w/Punches

Counters: Ducked Clothesline Release German Suplex, Tilt-a-whirl headscissors reversed into inverted DDT Bomb, Flying Leg Lariot, Tilt-a-whirl Tombstone, FlyerDriver(Tilt-a-whirl Michanoku Driver),

Favorites: Cold Snow(Palming elevated DDT), Running Lyger Bomb, Lunatic Bomb(Urangi Tiger Bomb), Sliced Bread #2

Setup Move: Hypothermia (Double Underhook Brainbuster)

Finisher: Flying Moon Shot (Top Rope Moonsault) or Peaceful Slumber(Elevated Crab )

Outside Promotion Information

Other/Previous promotions: IWO, jOlt, aWc, Action!, EPIC, WWR

Non-fWo Titles Won: IWO Grand Slam Winner, jOlt Tag Team Championship(*3), aWc Heavyweight Champion

Non-fWo Awards: #143 in 1999 RSPWF 200, IWO’s Hall of Fame, 2002 Asylum Manhunt participant

Small Match Aids/Character Traits

-When whipped into the corner, Flyer will do the Shawn Michaels thing, where he flips over and almost flies to the outside. Flair is known for this as well. The “Flair Flip” according to Renner.

-When disorientated or blinded, he’ll swing wildly in a comedic fashion.

-Any free moment, Flyer will taunt his opposition, either with slaps to their feet, cries and jeers or simply raising his devil horns.

-A ten year veteran, he rarely makes mistakes. He sells the right body part, he works the right body part, he knows when to do what and is a true ring general.

-Flyer, even in full on heel mode, won’t attack a women unless they attack him first. Even then, more than likely he’ll just throw her out of the ring.

-Very creative and loves to reverse people’s finishers into his own signature moves.

-Flyer rarely submits unless in the confines of the first fall in a 2 out of 3 fall match or an iron man match. Otherwise, he’ll more than likely fight the move off, or pass out trying.

-Flyer spent four years in Mexico honing his skills before appearing in the states, so he has a very Rey Mysterio/Eddy Guerrero flare to the moves and the aspects of his match.

-Talented Areas: Technical wrestling, Luchadoric aspects, Hardcore Weapons

-Weak Areas: Brawling, Submission orientated victories,

-He’s trying to become more well versed in the submission styling of wrestling, hence the face cut crossface and the Peaceful Slumber mentioned above. More than likely, Flyer will get victories by pinfall four out of five times.

-If he’s near the ropes, he will use them for leverage.

-If his opponent lands near the ropes, he will pull them into the center of the ring before locking in a move or going for a pin.

-Will hook the tights if he can get away with it.

-Extremely quick, and can be considered one of the fastest wrestlers around.

-Extremely Agile as well. He can run, jump, and land anywhere he wishes. Top rope lionsaults are no problem, although if his leg is worked, he will sell it and crotch himself.

-Aggressive and passive at times. Depending on his opponent he’ll either play offense or play defense. With guys who are easily frustrated, he’ll counter every move they try to do only to anger them and throw them off their game.

-Loves to use his sledgehammer. It’s his weapon of choice.

-He’s known more for his work as a face and is routinely cheered, but can switched to a heel in the blink of an eye(just like his attack on Seaman turned him heel). Plays each role well, but is much more suited to be a face.

-If anyone would dare TOUCH Kate Young-Harmen, Flyer would literally go psycho and try to kill them, man, women, or child.

-If anyone DARES mention his first born, let ALONE touches them, they’re pretty much screwed.

-Usually takes the beating as a face, but since he’s heel, he won’t. He’ll either be dishing the beating out or running away from it, all depending. When he’s face, after being beaten for quite some time, he’ll comeback by nipping up to his feet.

-Chronically injured left knee. Injured it first in a cage match in 2000 landing on it awkwardly while going for a flying moon shot off the cage wall. Light surgery fixed the problem, but a car accident the next year required longer extensive surgery which kept Flyer out of the ring for near four months. After a run in IWO, Flyer had reconstructive surgery on his knee and was out for approximately 8 months. It’s said to be as near to 100 percent as possible.

-Also during the car crash, Flyer injured his left elbow, which also had surgery. Not as well known as the knee, but it’s also something that can be worked on.

Handler Information

Handler: Tom Ford

Chat handle: Fordian Slip

Birthday: September 26th, 1983

Interests: Music, Football, Baseball, Independent Wrestling

Hobbies: Baseball card collecting, DVD’s, Video Game Collecting

Career History

Jack Harmen grew up in a wrestling family until the age of six when his father died a horrible death inside of the ring. His mother, a wreck from alcohol abuse and sorrow shot herself later that night, leaving Jack to fend for himself with his two siblings. Heading towards the states they were thrusted into the care of a grandmother who, rightfully so, should have been locked away as being senile.

This is the life of a professional wrestler.

Jack fought through his depression and his emotional pain by listening to his on again off again girlfriend Kate Young. After high school, Kate refused to let Jack ruin his life by entering the same profession that destroyed his family earlier that decade.

Jack told her he'd see her in a few years.

'Such sacrifices must be made,' he said on his way down to Mexico. There he would wrestle for the next four years, devoting his body and his soul to the profession of wrestling and most notably the lucha libre style. His most famous match came against Sam Potright in where Jack won a tournament proclaiming himself as the best high flyer in the promotion. Shortly after, he began to call himself just that.

High Flyer.

He continued wrestling throughout Mexico most notably, but made some brief stopovers in New Japan and All Japan. He stuck in neither place, and before long he had returned to America to start over for a new audience. A resurgance of wrestling fans devoted to a better product.

Flyer toured the independants for a year, wrestling in promotions such as the EWA, GWA, and PFW most notably. A long standing feud with Edward Glide, Jonny Nightmare and Tigro were his greatest accomplishments, before being called up to the majors so to say. Flyer got a contract with the IWO, and for the first couple months, things were shaky. Soon he'd form the Cult with fellow shaky rookies Jax Stone, and veterans Ken War, Justin Shack, and Al Coholic. Flyer was given the television title and the I.C. tag team titles, but the push slowly lost steam after Beach Party 1999. Flyer was left to retool at home.

Talking to Jax over the phone, Flyer came up with the gimmick he'd use when he would return. The IWO wanted him to come out with a fake crusier weight title and be the brash Chris Jericho heel, but Jack had an idea that, if worked right, could draw millions. Jack began to sell snow as a side profession. Much like how gimmicks like TL Hooper and Repo Man were used in the early 90's, Flyer began wandering around trying to sell snow to the fans, effectively mocking both the old style of promoting wrestling and himself in the process. It caught on as a cult phenominon, and before long, Flyer was just too hot to keep down in the low cards. He was given both the United States and Pacific championships before being told to simply “Run with it.” Brief feuds with Ken War and the Mysterious One helped Flyer be elevated before a team was formed between Flyer and Tony Davis.

They would be known as Team V.I.A.G.R.A. and they would be around for a long time to come.

Flyer was so hot at a point that not giving him the world title was ludicrous, but the IWO also wanted to keep Gunnar Smith as the champion. IWO did a Chris Benoit five minute title switch before returning the belt to Gunnar Smith. Fans in attendence were noted to be shocked and enthused at the change and in the next couple weeks, IWO tried to reduplicate that with little success.

Slowly, Team V.I.A.G.R.A. worked themselves back into the main event scene, forming a team with Evan Levine called the Central Powers, they became disciples in a war. Evan had plans for the FWF to take over the IWO, and stepped over everyone and anyone to get where he wanted. He inserted a retirement clause in Tony’s world title match with Psycho Jay, which lead to Tony’s retirement. Levine also interfered in a High Flyer world title match, costing him the victory and breaking the preverbial camal’s back. He turned his back on Levine and teamed with IWO legend Kell and forming a short lived Hostile Viagra.

Shortly after Ice Age in 2000, Flyer was scheduled to go on the shelf for a short time. Davis was also supposed to be brought back, so what was considered was an angle where Davis returns and injures Flyer. Thing was, the IWO decided to use a car crash for this injury, and it was all too real. Breaking the knee joint that was weak for Flyer for many years, Jack took time away from the ring. Early in his IWO run he had seen Kate Young and brought her on the road with him. They re-bonded and married during Flyer's time off.

Once returning, Flyer had four and five star matches with Davis up until Beach Party. Flyer also wrestled some of the top talents at the time such as AWS Man(Also Known as Bill) and Syphon Fission before leaving for the 'greener' pastures of jOlt.

'Joining jOlt during its upward rise was incredible,' Jack commented, 'but it fell shortly after and I was left with my stomach inside my throat. I just stared around ackwardly and asked 'What the hell just happened?' Team V.I.A.G.R.A. joined jOlt and quickly formed a partnership with another tag team called Fueled by Ignorance. Gaining noteriety from their Tornado Wrestling Days, the four men held the tag team titles until a falling out occured. Davis and Flyer wound up with the belts and held them for the majority of the time until the promotion closed.

During this time, Flyer also wrestled in both Epic and WWR, main eventing numerous cards but keeping his schedule light. When jOlt collapsed, Flyer took time off to heal his knee. WWR returned early in 2002 but only for about three cards, which Flyer competed heavily in. Talk was of giving Flyer a long run at the top with the championship title, but nothing came about.

With nothing on his schedule and all his loose ends tied up, Flyer finally had reconstructive surgery on his knee and spent the next eight months at home with his family. The rehabilitation process was hard, but Flyer knew that he would always wrestle again.

And he did. December 17^th, 2002 against Action! Heavyweight Champion, and one of his closest friends, Joey Malone. He lost that night, but he had made his mark on the wrestling world once again. Shortly afterwards, Tony Davis joined Action! and they turned heel, focusing their attacks on Simon Seaman.

Nothing really happened after that, with Flyer being paid by his appearance on Action! television. The feud shortly fizzled out, but while that was happening, something great was happening elsewhere.

In the aWc, Flyer joined the promotion as the hero and was told to “run with it,” once more. He was given the World Heavyweight Championship, and he tried to play the role of a hero. He failed, the aWc fans feeling that his character was both stale, and with the modern invention of television, unbelievable with his Action! role, turned on him mere moments into his career. Flyer tried with all his might to win the fans over, but it didn’t happen. Instead, at Reborn, Flyer turned full on heel and since then, had done everything he could to keep his aWc championship.

Recently losing the belt that he coveted so much, the belt that he gave up his family, his fans, his friends for, has left him anything but stable.

What I’d like to do with Flyer in the fWo.

Well, currently he wrestled in a federation called aWc. He recently lost his World Heavyweight Championship and will do anything to get it back. After numerous physical attempts to force the owner into giving him a rematch, Flyer would threaten a walk out, with an offer from fWo on the table. Enders, the aWc owner, would think Flyer was bluffing, but Flyer would then show up on fWo television the next week, most likely attacking Great Dragon, dating back to his loss earlier in the year when Dragon had the fWo Cruiserweight title. He’d probably say that although he respects Great Dragon a great deal, he still feels bitter about losing the match and will do anything to make the score even. I talked to Tomer, inserted a lot of “ifs,” you know, “If I’m accepted,” and “If you’re free,” and what have you, but he seemed interested. Following that, I would probably like to have some internal conflicts with Flyer revolving his current wife(Kate Young-Harmen) and a former love of his life, who currently has just started up in the Asylum, trying to build power there. And with the fWo’s/tA’s recent relationship, it could definitely be feeder to the situation between Flyer and his former love. I’d also love to some good ol’ fashion feuds with some of the other cruiserweights, and maybe even work with Jarrod again(Since I loved Cheno/Providence, Flyer/Burns would be quite interesting I’d think). I’d also think a feud with Bort(since I’m a pretty big fan of Black Quicksilver) would be cool, and probably hilarious. Along with that, I’d love to have some interaction with Fallen, just because I love the character. I’m also friends with Brock and Lynch, and haven’t worked with either in quite some time. It’d be fun to work with them as well.

I sent an original version without the last paragraph to Travis(with updates since then) in November. This version was requested when he got back to me a few months later. whether that was due to my e-mail malfunctioning or his busy schedule, I still have no idea. But six months after that initial e-mail and I was in the fWo.

So... it takes a lot of work on your character, a semi-clear focus on where he would go as a person, and an idea of where you'd like to fast start... not to mention a bit of patience.

Throw in the fact that I had applied four times prior and been rejected... (1999, 2000, Survivor 1, Survivor 2) well... take everything with just a simple grain of salt.

And keep plugging forward.