SGW RIVALS Chapter One: The Rock versus Chavo Guerrero, Jr.
Sept 12, 2022 20:06:47 GMT -6
drew, josh, and 5 more like this
Post by Scott on Sept 12, 2022 20:06:47 GMT -6
CHAPTER ONE: The Rock (John Baron) versus Chavo Guerrero, Jr. (Matt G.)
Timeframe: June 17 - July 15, 2001
Feud Facts:
Three SGW Intercontinental Championship changes
-June 17, 2001 (Chavo Guerrero, Jr. defeats The Rock in a tournament final)
-July 8, 2001 (The Rock defeats Chavo Guerrero, Jr.)
-July 15, 2001 (Chavo Guerrero, Jr. defeats The Rock)
Three SGW Top Matches
-June 17, 2001
-July 8, 2001
-July 15, 2001
I am absolutely biased as it's one of my all-time favorites in a time period where results weren't story-heavy, but the reason this feud is highlighted first is just because of the sheer insanity that it's made of. From the competitive nature of two top-tier talents, the unpredictable e-fed booking back then, and what happened immediately afterwards, this feud had it all.
When I joined SGW in April, my first advice was "watch the top guys and learn how they write and handle themselves." Matt G. was one of the first "legends" to befriend me and we hit it off pretty quick. He was the first e-fed person I ever added on social media way back when as well. He was already pretty successful, but this feud was his true coming out party against a guy in John, who was already a former World Champion at this point. Baron was one of THE guys in SGW at the time along with Joe Green and Brian P. Matt G. was my inspiration for writing zany characters, and this feud catapulted him to the Intercontinental Championship and, four months later, his first SGW World Championship.
The Rock versus Chavo is the perfect underdog story on paper. You can image in your mind exactly how it'd play out. Chavo, the weird guy with a stick horse shocks The Rock in the tournament finals and the match is ran back 21 days later, which is an eternity in title reign lengths back then. SGW was running two shows, so if you survived ten days as champion of anything, you were a king. You weren't guaranteed to reign until the next pay-per-view, and you absolutely were defending your title multiple times per month. Plans, if there were any, would implode at the drop of a hat.
Chavo/Rock II: The Rock takes the belt from Chavo in the rematch, which drew a LOT of heat on Mike Frost at the time since Baron was one of "his" guys. With pressure mounting, Chavo/Rock III is booked the next week. Forget a PPV main event or saving it for a loaded episode of Shock back then. It was the first time I ever witnessed an outcome I didn't agree with. It was the first real back and forth feud that I remember and it was between two of the best.
Chavo/Rock III: Righting the wrong, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. vanquishes the evil Rock once and for all in a third classic match, reclaiming the Intercontinental Championship for the second time... and then the title is vacated for almost five years. After this, future incarnations of SGW used the United States Championship until the 2006 version brought it back so the two singles titles could be unified.
Within that month period in the Summer of 2001, all three of their matches were entered into the Top Match list, which was a HUGE deal back then. The oldest title in SGW changed hands three times, but its prestige was raised with how hotly contested it was and that title's importance remains to this day, proving to be a true stepping stone to the World title. Matt G.'s Chavo Guerrero and John Baron's Rock are two of the most decorated singles competitors in SGW history with World, United States, Intercontinental, and Television title reigns galore.
Oh, and back to what I saying about unpredictable e-fed booking and what happened immediately after this feud ended..
The Rock goes on the VERY NEXT WEEK and wins the SGW World Title on July 22.
shrugs.
That was e-fedding back then.
Comments From Matt G: "Now that all this comes full circle and what you did write... it does jar some memories. I do remember being irate. I'm pretty sure I was visiting my grandparents in western Kentucky, hogging up their phone line because.. well, dial up.. writing RPs in NOTEPAD.. formatting and uploading. I remember being really proud of my RPs against John for every match, but that second match didn't sit well with me. I remember the numerous AIM convos between me/you, me/Josh, hell, even probably Anthony too. Lots of people were pissed off. I'm pretty sure I remember Josh telling me to shove it down Baron's fucking throat at one point. We were angsty teens. I actually feel like back then... multiple people almost boycotted SGW because of it. Everyone was getting tired of the 'Frost Boys' era. I feel like that was one of the major turning points in our circle. Our group really came together and after that... hardly ever separated. I do think John was a phenomenal writer and the first victory, I was just honored to face him and shocked I won. The second I was truly pissed that I lost so I took it out on him in the 3rd. However, I definitely respected his writing and had no actual issue with Baron himself."
Comments From Josh: "All of this happened shortly before I took over SGW for the first time. John Baron was one of the founders of SGW with Frost and Sam Crust, and he had been one of the pillars of the fed since stepping down from staff to compete exclusively. Matt was a good friend of mine and we had bonded in other feds over his nWo B-Team (Stevie Ray & Vincent) roleplays. His Chavo was on a whole 'nother level, though. John Baron was solid and always showed up for big matches, so the action on the board was gonna be heated when these two got matched up. It's been 21 years, I don't remember the roleplays themselves so I can't speak now on the coulda', woulda', shoulda's of the second match but I do remember the fallout from John winning. The heat on Frost was nuclear. Me, Joe Green, Anthony, Kurt, and Scott for sure thought something had to be up. Frost ended up "making it right" by booking the third match in the series, which Matt deservedly won. A bigger takeaway from this is that I believe the fallout from this match is what pushed Frost to give me that first run as SGW owner, and the memory of this is what caused the final exodus from Frost's SGW when he screwed me over after WrestleBrawl, two weeks after I handed ownership back over to him.
Another takeaway, purely for trivia purposes, is that when I took over SGW for the first time, one week after Chavo/Rock III, I made John Baron the first world champion under my watch while Chavo went on to form a tag team with Rhyno called Stick Horn.
I'm sorry, Matt."
Feud Facts:
Three SGW Intercontinental Championship changes
-June 17, 2001 (Chavo Guerrero, Jr. defeats The Rock in a tournament final)
-July 8, 2001 (The Rock defeats Chavo Guerrero, Jr.)
-July 15, 2001 (Chavo Guerrero, Jr. defeats The Rock)
Three SGW Top Matches
-June 17, 2001
-July 8, 2001
-July 15, 2001
I am absolutely biased as it's one of my all-time favorites in a time period where results weren't story-heavy, but the reason this feud is highlighted first is just because of the sheer insanity that it's made of. From the competitive nature of two top-tier talents, the unpredictable e-fed booking back then, and what happened immediately afterwards, this feud had it all.
When I joined SGW in April, my first advice was "watch the top guys and learn how they write and handle themselves." Matt G. was one of the first "legends" to befriend me and we hit it off pretty quick. He was the first e-fed person I ever added on social media way back when as well. He was already pretty successful, but this feud was his true coming out party against a guy in John, who was already a former World Champion at this point. Baron was one of THE guys in SGW at the time along with Joe Green and Brian P. Matt G. was my inspiration for writing zany characters, and this feud catapulted him to the Intercontinental Championship and, four months later, his first SGW World Championship.
The Rock versus Chavo is the perfect underdog story on paper. You can image in your mind exactly how it'd play out. Chavo, the weird guy with a stick horse shocks The Rock in the tournament finals and the match is ran back 21 days later, which is an eternity in title reign lengths back then. SGW was running two shows, so if you survived ten days as champion of anything, you were a king. You weren't guaranteed to reign until the next pay-per-view, and you absolutely were defending your title multiple times per month. Plans, if there were any, would implode at the drop of a hat.
Chavo/Rock II: The Rock takes the belt from Chavo in the rematch, which drew a LOT of heat on Mike Frost at the time since Baron was one of "his" guys. With pressure mounting, Chavo/Rock III is booked the next week. Forget a PPV main event or saving it for a loaded episode of Shock back then. It was the first time I ever witnessed an outcome I didn't agree with. It was the first real back and forth feud that I remember and it was between two of the best.
Chavo/Rock III: Righting the wrong, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. vanquishes the evil Rock once and for all in a third classic match, reclaiming the Intercontinental Championship for the second time... and then the title is vacated for almost five years. After this, future incarnations of SGW used the United States Championship until the 2006 version brought it back so the two singles titles could be unified.
Within that month period in the Summer of 2001, all three of their matches were entered into the Top Match list, which was a HUGE deal back then. The oldest title in SGW changed hands three times, but its prestige was raised with how hotly contested it was and that title's importance remains to this day, proving to be a true stepping stone to the World title. Matt G.'s Chavo Guerrero and John Baron's Rock are two of the most decorated singles competitors in SGW history with World, United States, Intercontinental, and Television title reigns galore.
Oh, and back to what I saying about unpredictable e-fed booking and what happened immediately after this feud ended..
The Rock goes on the VERY NEXT WEEK and wins the SGW World Title on July 22.
shrugs.
That was e-fedding back then.
Comments From Matt G: "Now that all this comes full circle and what you did write... it does jar some memories. I do remember being irate. I'm pretty sure I was visiting my grandparents in western Kentucky, hogging up their phone line because.. well, dial up.. writing RPs in NOTEPAD.. formatting and uploading. I remember being really proud of my RPs against John for every match, but that second match didn't sit well with me. I remember the numerous AIM convos between me/you, me/Josh, hell, even probably Anthony too. Lots of people were pissed off. I'm pretty sure I remember Josh telling me to shove it down Baron's fucking throat at one point. We were angsty teens. I actually feel like back then... multiple people almost boycotted SGW because of it. Everyone was getting tired of the 'Frost Boys' era. I feel like that was one of the major turning points in our circle. Our group really came together and after that... hardly ever separated. I do think John was a phenomenal writer and the first victory, I was just honored to face him and shocked I won. The second I was truly pissed that I lost so I took it out on him in the 3rd. However, I definitely respected his writing and had no actual issue with Baron himself."
Comments From Josh: "All of this happened shortly before I took over SGW for the first time. John Baron was one of the founders of SGW with Frost and Sam Crust, and he had been one of the pillars of the fed since stepping down from staff to compete exclusively. Matt was a good friend of mine and we had bonded in other feds over his nWo B-Team (Stevie Ray & Vincent) roleplays. His Chavo was on a whole 'nother level, though. John Baron was solid and always showed up for big matches, so the action on the board was gonna be heated when these two got matched up. It's been 21 years, I don't remember the roleplays themselves so I can't speak now on the coulda', woulda', shoulda's of the second match but I do remember the fallout from John winning. The heat on Frost was nuclear. Me, Joe Green, Anthony, Kurt, and Scott for sure thought something had to be up. Frost ended up "making it right" by booking the third match in the series, which Matt deservedly won. A bigger takeaway from this is that I believe the fallout from this match is what pushed Frost to give me that first run as SGW owner, and the memory of this is what caused the final exodus from Frost's SGW when he screwed me over after WrestleBrawl, two weeks after I handed ownership back over to him.
Another takeaway, purely for trivia purposes, is that when I took over SGW for the first time, one week after Chavo/Rock III, I made John Baron the first world champion under my watch while Chavo went on to form a tag team with Rhyno called Stick Horn.
I'm sorry, Matt."
