Secret Origins IV: Doomsday

D-Day '98

Last week, I detailed Ultimate Championship Wrestling’s first paid event, March Madness, which was an overwhelming success. It’s interesting to look back on three of the men who participated and see how they have  changed since then. Tony Dreamer then was a tough-talking butt-kicker, who wasn’t afraid to take risks. Today, he is a charismatic showman, who plays towards the crowd.  Scarface had just debuted his new persona and attempted to play to the sympathy of the crowd . Today, Scarface enjoys the hatred of the crowd…when he makes an appearance at UCW, that is. Then, Kraven was a dark, silent figure who used to wear a black trench coat and carry a bat. Today, well, if you have been to a UCW show, then you know that Kraven is anything but silent. The differences between then now are particularly glaring as we take a look at UCW’s first big failure, at an event somewhat appropriately named D-Day. However, I am getting ahead of myself.

The story of  D-Day begins with, ironically enough, an explosion. In this case, the explosion involved was the size of UCW’s roster as it grew exponentially. You see, shortly after March Madness, it was decided that UCW would have a second event a couple of months later, in the month of May. When it came to naming the event, the name was once again an homage to something else. Our church, Calvary Christian Center (known then as Calvary Temple) holds an annual event on the Sunday before Memorial Day that honors veterans. As an in-joke for ourselves, we named our new event “D-Day.”

In order to put on D-day, we knew that we would need more people involved than what we currently had.  So about one month prior to the event, we held an open casting call. Thanks to the auditions, we gained several new members of the roster. There were so many in fact, that UCW was to create a new stable to join Kraven’s Flock and the Twin Cities Cartel.  Super Scotty Tuttle was given his own group of wrestlers, which he named the Tuttle Family. His “family” consisted of: Dallas Walden, also known as the V.I.D., the Very Important Dallas; Ray Ellis a.ka. Ray Hammer; Matt Masih, or as he was known in UCW, Stickboy (thanks Charlie!); and the centerpiece of the family, Chris Mace who went by just Mace.

The Tuttle family was not the only group to gain some new recruits. The Twin Cities Cartel also expanded. Besides Desperado and Scarface, the Cartel now also included wrestler, Sto Koroshi, also known as Will MacIvor and valet, Miss Lee, otherwise known as Jennifer MacIvor. Unfortunately, we did lose a wrestler. Jared Johnson, or as he was known in UCW, Seven, decided that he did not want to be a part of UCW anymore. At first, he used the reason that his mother did not want him to wrestle. However, after a little prodding, it came out that he just did not want to wrestle anymore. So we had to write him out of the show.

Once all the players were set, it was time for UCW’s second event. Most of the pieces were the same. Dave Diggs and myself were still providing commentary. Pastor Michael was still ring announcing. Vegas Vic, a.k.a. Pastor Vic, was still in charge. But, in addition to new members, some other things had changed. Gone were the metal stage pieces and in their place stood four wooden stage pieces that had previously been used in a Cinco De Mayo outreach. Gone was Tony Menchaca and Paul Soriano as half-time entertainment. In their place was a dance number set to the Newsboys song “Shine,”  (featuring my wife, Jenn) performed by the youth drama team. (I know, drama and dancing…don’t ask.) Gone was the referee from the prior show. In his place was youth group member, Steve Wilson, who still could not enter the ring. In my family, he was known as Uncle Steve…even though he was only a year older than me.  And most importantly, gone was the crowd of 150 people. In their place, an attendance of 500 people, to date the largest show in UCW history.

This event would feature four matches. Opening the show was Sto Koroshi facing Low Die for the newly created UCW Light Heavyweight Title. Even with the support of the Twin Cities Cartel, Sto Koroshi tapped out to the Snake-Eyes and Low-Die was the first ever UCW Light Heavyweight Champion. In between matches, we aired a video of myself interviewing Seven to find out why he wasn’t competing that night. His response of “I’m going home” drew laughter from those in attendance.

Prior to the second match, Scarface entered to his new entrance music (which to this day gets me pumped for UCW), and introduced the new members of the Cartel to the UCW fans. Of course, during the introductions, he managed to insult the audience and the Tuttle Family. He faced Mace for the honor of the Tuttle Family. Scarface dominated the match and, after hitting his finishing manuever, the Shank,

The Shank - an elbow to the back of the head

(and with a little help from the UCW Tag Team Title belt) Scarface picked up the victory.

The third match was the first ever UCW Rumble. It featured all the members of the UCW roster. The rules were simple. If a wrestler’s feet left the wooden stage pieces and touched the floor, they were eliminated. The last person left on the stage was the winner. The match featured all 10 members of the UCW roster (The Cartel, Low-Die, the entire Tuttle Family, ex-family member the Dragon, and new masked wrestler, El Bandito Loco). This was Scarface’s night, as he was the last man standing.

The main event that night was interesting. It was set to be a no-holds barred Triple Threat Match for the UCW World Heavyweight Title.  Tony Dreamer would be defending the title against not only Kraven, but Vegas Vic as well. It would be the only time in UCW history that the youth pastor would wrestle in the main event, let alone for the world title. The match, predictably, was mainly fought between Dreamer and Kraven. This time, not only were steel chairs used but so were trash cans

Kraven throwing a trash can

and ladders. After a hard-fought match that went all over the gym, Tony Dreamer pinned Kraven with the One Way Ticket to Dreamland and retained the World Title.

Post-Match, Vegas Vic announced he was being forced to return to Las Vegas. There needed to be someone who would run things in his place. Dreamer, being the winner of the match, was able to choose who that would be. Dreamer, as he sat high atop a ladder,  looked over the gym and pointed at one man…David Diggs. That night, he was named UCW Commissioner.  (What’s interesting is that Pastor Vic had actually planned on someone else being the figurehead. He just didn’t mention who that was to anyone before the event.) With that matter settled, the evening was over.

I mentioned that this was UCW’s first big failure. Reading over the card, it may not seem like it.  To explain why it wasn’t as successful as March Madness, you need to know three things. First, other than Mace and Miss Lee, all the new recruits were in junior high and did not have the athletic ability of the older wrestlers. Second, stupidly, we did not practice the Rumble at all. People did not know when they were supposed to leave. Desperado, not knowing where he was in the ring, stepped off the stage piece and eliminated himself.  In the backstage area, after the match, people were lying around, nursing wounds both real and imaginary. Victor (Scarface) said it was like a Civil War battlefield. Finally, the matches that were practiced (other than the main event) to be honest, were just not very good. The Scarface-Mace match even ended early because Mace just plain forgot the entire match.

All in all day, D-Day was evidence that UCW undergoing it’s growing pains. Thankfully, it did not stop there.  As has happened many times since then, Ultimate Championship Wrestling overcame the odds and was poised to continue.  However, there was one post-D-Day incident that nearly killed UCW before it could go any farther. But that, my friends, is a story for another time.

In the spotlight.

Spotlights are a funny thing. It’s intended use is to focus attention on a particular area. In illuminating that area, everything that is within that light’s beam becomes clear. Ordinarily that is a good thing. However, the spotlight also draws attention to the subject’s flaws. This morning at church, I saw both effects.

Today was designated as Ministry Spotlight. Several of the key ministries in our church were given space in the courtyard for them to put out information for potential volunteers.  After both morning services, people would have time to wander around, check out the various tables, and sign up to help out. It was up to each ministry to set-up their area and staff each table.

When I arrived this morning, the courtyard of Calvary Christian Center was packed with tables.  The sheer number of ministries being spotlighted was amazing. From M.O.P.S.+ to Royal Rangers to the Fine Arts Department, the variety of areas that people could get involved with was…well, encouraging. To me, a sign of a healthy church is one that provides a place not only for people to receive encouragement but also a place where those same people can use their talents and skills to encourage others. Standing at our booth and looking out over the courtyard, it was easy to see that most people would find a place to do both.

As Ryan Pyles, Marcus Morton, and I began to set-up our UCW area, we were excited. We had been looking for an opportunity to present Ultimate Championship Wrestling to the rest of the church. We are obviously always looking for new wrestlers, but this morning, we were looking for people who would be involved in other areas of UCW. In addition to the performers, each show requires dedicated and hard-working event staff to make it a success. Thus far, we have been blessed that we have amazing people in place (like Jesse and Jana Rodriguez) who help organize our security team and snack bar crew. But we want more people to join in and help grow the size of the show. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to find thoase people.

We got to work placing the various posters of the UCW crew, setting out one of the titles, and putting DVDs on the table. We had Cleve Lee dress as his UCW persona, Alcatraz, to draw attention. As we waited for the doors to open, signaling the end of the first service, I have to admit I let my expectations rise as I figured we would receive at least a couple of names on our sign-up sheet. Finally, the 9 am service was over, and we waited for people to come by.  And we waited..and waited.

As each person passed by, I was hoping someone would stop by and sign up. But no one did. At one point, Pastor Pat came over and suggested that we spread out because it looked like we were blocking the table. It was excellent advice, so we spread ourselves out. And still no one came.

Slightly discouraged, I took a quick glance at what the other tables were doing. They had materials on the table. So did we. Some had people dressed up in costume. So did we. They had candy on their table. We…did not. Getting desperate, I snagged the candy dish from the main Reality Student Ministry table (there was no one standing there anyway), in a vain attempt to draw people over to our table. It worked! People came over to grab some free candy…and that was it. By the end of morning, we did not have a single person sign up.

Now, I fully admit the UCW is a niche ministry. And the concept of a pro-wrestling style ministry is a difficult one grasp. Heck, I mentioned UCW to a co-worker at lunch on Friday and was given that odd stare you get when the other person is debating on ending the conversation right there. But I would at least expect people to stop and ask questions. (Which, in the interest of full disclosure, a couple did). What was annoying was looking down the row of tables that made up Sidewalk Sunday School, Reality Kids (elementary-age children), Reality 678 (Junior High), Reality 912 (High School) and the C5 (college and career), there was only one signature on one sheet. And that’s pathetic.

Pastor C, our lead pastor, spoke just last Sunday night about the church congregation needing to take a more active role in what the church offers. There is an old adage, that “20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work”.  This morning, the other 80 percent had a chance to step up. From where we were standing, they instead decided to just continue to take real estate on the pew, contributing less than the wood and cloth it takes to make those pews.

As a disclaimer, I have to admit that I did not go to every single table and look at the number of sign-ups. It is possible that some of the other ministries had sheets filled with signatures. However, the one table that seemed to be the busiest was the one that was selling baked goods. (I guess the one area that some people wanted to be sure and serve was their stomach.) I must admit, seeing as that table also had a sign-up sheet, I am curious if they also had quite a few people sign-up.

In the end, only analyzing others actions (as annoying as they may be) isn’t as effective as analyzing our own. As I look back on this morning, I am going have to look at the actions we in UCW took and what we can do to improve next time. Perhaps we needed something more eye-catching. Maybe someone drawing people’s attention over to our booth. Maybe I should have Jenn bake pies and sell them.  (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) In any case, I hope the next time the spotlight shines, the opportunities sparkle brighter than the flaws.

From the Inside Out

Our normal Sunday consists of heading to Calvary Christian Center, or as my cousin, Paul, has deemed it, Triple C. I have gone to that church ever since my family moved to Yuba City when I was in 6th grade. It has been one of the most stable aspects of my generally unstable life. About a year or so after we moved to Yuba City, Pastor Ciociola (or as he is more commonly called,Pastor C) became the senior pastor of the church. As a kid, I wish I could say I hung on his every word and felt his speaking was amazing. But this is a blog post and not a job interview, so I need to be completely honest: I rarely paid attention. 

Pastor C and his wife, Dona

 

There was always much more interesting stuff going on. Whether it was trying to pass notes to someone or doodling on the back of a tithe envelope, church service in junior high and high school was something that  had to happened before I could go hang out with my friends. It wasn’t until after I graduated high school that I started genuinely caring about the belief system that so dominated my life. 

One key aspect of that was beginning to take notes on the sermon that was being preached. What I discovered was that Pastor C is an excellent speaker. (Amazing what paying attention will teach you, huh?) Even if I don’t always agree with what he is saying (which only happens when it comes to politics), his thoughts are always well-crafted. There are very few pastors I admire more than he. As such, I’d like to spend some time thinking through his message from this morning and how to apply it to my life. 

The title of his sermon was “The Salt Covenant”. His thesis was that as God’s people, we need to live a life of purity, or “salt of the Earth.”  This was an interesting topic. As Pastor C was speaking, the one thing that kept be hitting me was how reluctant I tend to be about being proud of my faith. That doesn’t mean I am ashamed of being a Christian. But when it comes to describing what Jesus means to me, I become extremely self-conscious. When I was typing out the blog intro, the section that presented me with the most difficulty was the idea of using Sundays to talk about what I believe. As I was typing out each word, I kept wanting to delete
certain phrases. And I hated that. 

I spent some time this afternoon thinking and praying about what it was that made me so reluctant. I realized it stemmed from two main sources: one from outside of Christianity and the other from within. Each time I try to write anything about Jesus, a voice from one of those two camps echoes in head. 

One thing I love is hearing other people’s opinions. Even though it’s the wasteland of Internet, I enjoy reading the comments page of any article I am reading. When I was promoted to a position at work that did not require me to be on the phone, I quickly brought in a radio and headphones so I could listen to talk radio. As time went on, and my work position (and political beliefs) changed again, I turned to the dregs of the web, message boards, for opinionated discourse. Eventually I purchased a phone that could handle a media form that was relatively new at the time: podcasts. Quickly I was exposed to a range of thoughts were as varied as a comments section but a thousand times more articulate. As I listened to each one, I learned that some people who did not care for Christians did so not because of theology. Rather they had a block based on the way they had been treated by others who called themselves Christians. 

This may seem like a well-known concept, but for me it was a revelation. It’s similar to how you hear the same lecture from your parents but it never sinks in until you hear from someone else. As I listened to the things they said about how they have been treated, I became ashamed.  Slowly, I began to want hide myself away. 

As I said earlier, my reluctance did not only originate from what I was hearing. Growing up, our youth group went through an “extreme” phase. There was leadership in place that put an emphasis on what they called “living the life.” Despite having good intentions, there was a limited Biblical foundation being taught in addition all the other going-ons.  What ended up happening was people were judged more by the “spiritual works” they were able to do rather than being judged as an individual. Acting spiritual became the cool thing to do. Kids in the youth group began treating the gifts of the Spirit the same way a suburban kid does with their piercings: as a method of calling attention to themselves. Watching all of these kids and their adult leadership treat God like He was magic rapidly turned me off to being vocal about my faith. 

Listening to Pastor’s sermon today, I realized that, like most things in Christianity, there is a balance. It is possible to live a life that personifies what it is I believe and not be so extreme as to turn off those around me. What it requires is a commitment to three things: Love like Him. Live like Him. Lead like Him. Those three things were the basis of Pastor’s sermon tonight. Each point felt like confirmation of what I was praying about earlier this afternoon. It’s funny the way God works sometimes. Which is something I would not have felt comfortable writing yesterday.