Top 10 Unforgettable Moments
by THE Choco Pel a.k.a. Smooth4LIF
May 31, 2007

I can’t believe we’ve all come this far.  When I first got involved in this business 10 years ago, it was for fun.  I don’t think, at the time, that I would’ve ever thought I’d still be in it a decade later.  I’m glad to say that I was wrong to ever think that, and hopefully there is many more years to come.

As the years have passed us by, there have been a lot of unforgettable moments.  Of course, it will vary depending on who you ask, but some things that went down would top anyone’s list.  When you’ve been around the e-fed world as long as I have, you see a lot of things.  On top of that, I’ve been in a number of federations … I’ve seen them rise, I’ve seen them fall, and I’ve seen them flourish into greatness.  There has not been a single federation I’ve joined that someone else in this very group we have right now wasn’t also in. That being said, I’ve had the pleasure of being around most of you for this entire ten-year period.  It’s been great working with you, and I hope you guys continue to work with me.

So what stands out as something you’ll never be able to get out of your brain?  I say it like that because it is not always the glorious that carves a memory inside one's skull.  There have been plenty of shocking, unbelievable, and at times limit-pushing moments that astound us all … in one way or another.  I’m going to go over ten of my personal favorites, in no particular order.  Why ten?  Because it’s a great number.  Why not in order?  Because I don’t feel like it.  And, because it’s a personal list, you’re going to see some things that you wouldn’t put on your own.  Like …

Chris Benoit Wins SCW World Title
Far be it from me to toot my own horn … but “TOOT.”  Give me a break, ok?  For me, it was a very shocking moment in my career.  I was practically running my own angle with Benoit, giving belts away he considered to be “unworthy” of his time, all to try and make him a big-time player in SCW for a change … someone that gets World Title shots and makes everyone believe in his chances.  But, for some odd reason, I never thought I’d make it there.  I got a decent amount of respect from everyone I worked with (or against) in SCW, but that will only get you so far.  What’s funny is that SCW closed its doors in August of 2000, and if I hadn’t won the belt when I did in the late Spring/early Summer, I may never have at all.  It wasn’t my first World Title, but it will always be my most cherished.

SHADOW316 Returns to E-Fed Wrestling
Speaking of SCW, why not talk about the man that brought it all together over there?  I bring this up as memorable because, well, I honestly didn’t ever expect to see him back in the e-fed world after SCW closed in 2000.  I mean, once 6 years goes by and you maybe talk to a man 5-6 times … ONLINE … during that period, you hardly think they’ll be someone you can call on to participate in an e-fed again.  Let’s not forget that people move on, as well, and that once we start to graduate from high school, go to college, build lives, and all that jazz, your priorities change.  I’m sure everyone can understand this.  All this being said, I thought the chances to get someone like Shadow “back from the dead,” so to speak, was never going to happen.  Boy, was I wrong.  Not only did he return at Fall Battle Fields last year, but he’s now the PWF Champion.  Oh, and a 10-time World Champion at that.  My hat’s off to you, Shadow, and thanks for the memories … including this one.

Hulk Hogan Loses to Sean Gunn
Wait, another one about me?  Go figure.  Actually, this one’s a bit funny.  It really shouldn’t be something that I find so shocking.  But I remember the match I had with Gunn at 100% Live in 2000, and I thought I had it in the bank.  You all know what I’m talking about.  We all have those matches where you’re damn sure you did everything you needed to in order to squash your opponent.  You were on.  You said all the right things.  You had it. … NOT.  Hogan was never anything huge for me.  I liked trying to pull off an actual babyface Hogan (since he was only really known as such a major heel around that time in real life), and maybe that’s why I take it so personally.  I had a real good time being him in SCW.  But, let’s not try to ignore why this also leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.  There were those of us, especially at the time, that thought things weren’t too “fair” in SCW sometimes.  I should actually just label this one as “Screwjobs,” because there were a few, and no, they did not all have to do with James Ace or Sean Gunn.  It’s not that simple.  Road Rage 1998 ring a bell, anyone?  If you even halfway know what the hell I’m talking about with that one, then you know what I’m getting at.

The Perfect Team vs. Chris Benoit
A personal one.  Again.  Oh, well.  This one spans more than just a single match, though.  For me, it’s the whole fiasco.  Let me put things in a bit of perspective.  I was trying hard to push Chris Benoit in SCW.  I was also trying to be a part of the Perfect Team, and it is no easy task to do that when people like Mr. Perfect are around.  Well, he (ThaMadness) decides to retire Perfect, kind of, and let Benoit lead the Perfect Team.  This “stepping aside” allowed me to get the belt for the first time ever in SCW, and it was good times.  In real life, I was supposed to leave for the AF Academy very shortly after this, where I learned I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the e-feds anymore.  So … plans were made, the belt was dropped, and I was supposed to go on my merry way to Colorado.  Didn’t quite work that way, did it?  Not only did I turn down the offer after getting there, but what I find is the PT bashing Benoit during my absence.  I can’t blame them, really, since I was supposed to be gone for a LONG time.  But for some reason, it still stung.  It was never supposed to be the PT vs. Me … I never wanted that … but it’s what it became.  And when I came back to SCW that summer, I went through a long process of working an angle out with Shadow that, looking back, maybe was a bit drastic.  When it all came to fruition, Benoit left (storyline-wise) because Booker T got shot in Harlem.  Yeah.  You read that right.  It’s pretty much the gist of it, anyway.  Better angles could’ve been made, but it’s not horrible.  It’s definitely memorable.  And weirdly, it isn’t the only time a gun has come into play in SCW’s history.

10-Year Anniversary
That’s right.  This very moment alone will stand out in my mind for a long time.  I can’t believe we’ve all come this far.  SCA put it quite eloquently in his initial column about all this, so I won’t even try to go where he went with it.  What I will say is that it really says something about the people involved, to see the same ones that were dominant then still around and (primarily) dominant now.  It’s amazing.  So much has happened during this decade of history, so many feuds have been started, so many wars have been waged, and so many legends have been made.  I feel honored to have been a part in all of this, and to think it’s been 10 years this month … I’m more honored than ever.

Mike Flynn is Accused of Rape in the PWF
Well, this one really takes the cake, doesn’t it?  Why should I even BE surprised, seeing as how I let the angle run to begin with?  I wish I could answer that question, but to be completely honest with you, I’m still shocked it happened.  It’s like I didn’t realize what the hell was going on until it was actually happening, much like with the AF Academy, heh.  Sure, for Flynn’s character, it was right up his alley.  But when I look at this in retrospect, it almost seems ridiculous that the PWF ran an angle where a wrestler was actually accused of raping another wrestler’s wife.  Yeah, this coming from the man that let one of his own controlled wrestlers get shot in Harlem.  Of course, the rape was a farce, but even that was unbelievable, because Hammond didn’t give his consent for Rebecca to be involved to this extent.  A big cluster-F, when you really think about, but it only ended up being fuel for one of the PWF’s biggest feuds ever, culminating in a great Hell in a Cell match at WrestleFest II … so it can’t be ALL that bad, can it?

The Professional Wrestling Federation’s Success
It’s shocking.  It really is.  SCA has made mention before that I was forced into it, and honestly, I pretty much was.  At the time (March of 2005), I was a lot more interested in BEING in a federation than running one.  The one other time I had tried to do it, it failed miserably, mainly because of a roster that wasn’t committed.  So you can see how my reluctance to run a federation caused some coaxing on the parts of SCA and TM.  But, eventually, I agreed, and here we are.  I’m glad I did it, too, because it worked out much better this way.  Sure, I wish I was in the mix like the rest of you, but I’m perfectly happy with running the show, too.  It’s a different side of it.  It’s satisfying in an entirely different way.  And I take a lot of pride in the fact that many of you, including myself as well, believe this to be the best federation we’ve ever seen.  I don’t like to say it to boast … I like to say it because of what it means to everyone involved, especially after all this time.  Can you imagine how much cooler it will be, too, if we go, say, another 3 years?  To be able to look back on all that’s transpired, and all the WrestleFests, and all the great feuds?  That was the problem “back in the day,” since federations closed down way too often to hold any kind of ongoing history.  Here, in the PWF, we’ve got that now, and I have no intention on letting that stop.  To this day, I’m shocked we’re where we are, but I’m also even more happy that we’re there to begin with.

Mr. Perfect Turns on Excellence
This may not have been shocking to me, since I knew it was going to happen.  I write the shows, so I don’t get the luxury you guys get when results come out.  Still, from an outside-looking-in point of view, this was a tremendous moment in our history.  This was, like, the one thing that was never going to happen.  SCA has talked about this before, and how their partnership worked on a whole different level than other ones you’d see … there was a level of trust that they never had to worry about, you see.  When it all fell apart, after so many years, at No Escape 2006, I can only imagine what you guys might’ve thought.  If this were real, I see this moment being so surprising that the arena would’ve been dead silent after the initial reaction to seeing Perfect’s face under the mask.  There were so many names that you could’ve put in the “Man in Black” spot, but his was not supposed to be one of them.  And by the way the show was written that April night, Perfect was the last person you would think of.  It was a great angle.  The best I’ve ever put together from behind the scenes, let alone seen.  I don’t want to put Excellence or SCA down in all this either, because he’s a part of why it’s so huge.  Had it been some other wrestler, it wouldn’t have been the same, and it wouldn’t have held the same amount of impact that this did.  But it was Excellence.  It was Mr. Perfect.  It was the Perfect Team turning on one of its founders.  This was unthinkable.  And it was unforgettable.

DsTEviLSCA Brings Excellence Back to the PWF
A lot of you don’t know everything about what it took to get Excellence back in the PWF, but it was not something that came easily.  WrestleFest brought a Cena/Excellence match with an ending unfavorable to some, for sure, and the post-match shenanigans probably didn’t sit too well for him either.  However, what went on with the New Breed crossing over to the PWF was like a nail in the coffin.  It was unheard of, let alone unbelievable.  It caused a lot of friction between us that I allowed them to jump like that, and Taz/Excellence looked like only a wish for Hammond.  With all that was going on, I pretty much thought Excellence was done for, at least when it came to the PWF.  The things that had transpired last January caused VCW to close its doors, or at least played a large part in it, and it really was a tense time behind the scenes.  Ex came back, though, and because of that, we got to see the biggest feud of our time, leading to the biggest match of our time at WrestleFest II.  As close as he probably was to not ever bringing him back, I’m glad he did.

Well, that would be nine moments.  A number ten is shocking that I’m going to go ahead and make it #1 on this list without order … just because I can.

#1: Raven Commits Suicide in Supreme Championship Wrestling
This has to be the top of my list.  Is HAS to be.  How can it not?  In that RolePlay, we saw things take place you’re not supposed to see.  What’s even more shocking is that it’s still treated by many as actually happening, even though we were probably supposed to disregard the act ever took place to begin with (considering the subject matter).  I mean, bring an actual gun into a RP is bad enough, but using it … I can’t even type the words out to finish the thought.  It was crazy.  Maybe some people weren’t surprised Rocket did what he did, because we all know he’s not afraid to do unorthodox things in promos.  But the personal issues going on between himself and Shadow, at the time, gave him all the reason he needed to give us something so many of us will never forget.  It may go down forever as the only thing in PWF Universe history that never really happened, but for some reason, did.

I think that about covers it. I know you guys have your own personal favorites, and maybe you’d be better about not including yourself in them, but that’s just how I see it.  For me, I have my own memories that stick out in my brain.  This kind of business will do that to you, after 10 years.  But, I’m happy to have been a part of all this, and I hope you guys are to.  Here’s to another 10.