From the desk of Jason Dane...

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From the desk of Jason Dane...
Tweet Topic Started: Nov 5 2012, 12:54 PM (113 Views)
BigPoppaBuyrate	Nov 5 2012, 12:54 PM Post #1
Poppin' Buyrates Since 1996 Posts: 4,124 Group: Super Members Member #57 Joined: March 18, 2005	From the desk of Jason Dane... ***** When I took a job as an on-air interview type guy for the AWA, I always knew I wanted more. After all, I'd been doing Play By Play for a while - both for Pro Wrestling Revolution and later for the EMWC. It's hard to go back to interview guy after that. But as I've said before, when your past employers are Todd Michaelson and Chris Blue - it gets a little tricky to find a new gig when those two men are not hiring. When the AWA opened up, it was a godsend for me. I immediately shot Todd an e-mail and asked what I could do to help. To be honest, I thought they would offer me the PBP job. The reviews of my work in the EMWC were pretty solid and hey, being the brother-in-law of one of the owners could only help, right? Wrong. They had decided to go a different direction with the AWA. It wasn't the full-on embrace of modern wrestling that PWR was. You weren't likely to see guys brought in from Japan and Mexico to pop a crowd because that wasn't the audience they were looking for. They wanted the kids. They wanted the parents of those kids who remembered the business in a different way. They weren't necessarily looking for the EMWC fans who remembered tables and barbed wire and thumbtacks and guys with straight edge razors and weedwhackers. They were going old school... and while there was a place for Jason Dane in an old school environment, it wasn't the place I expected. I have nothing but respect for Gordon Myers. Know that now. When I heard I wasn't getting the PBP job, you can bet I was mad. When I heard who was though, it was a different story. There are two men in this business who could've gotten that job over me and I wouldn't complain a bit - one of them is Jon Stegglet and the other is Gordon Myers. Gordon Myers is my hero. He is the Dean of Professional Wrestling announcing. He is all that I wanted to be when I got into this business and it truly is an honor to be able to throw the action back to him every two weeks on Saturday Night Wrestling. I took my job as interview guy with a swallow of pride. But deep down, I knew there was more that I could bring to the table. More that I could do for the masses watching the shows. I didn't have to be the guy who just held a mic in front of someone's face. I could be the guy who asked the tough questions. I could be the guy who wouldn't back down from someone twice my size when they didn't want to tell the truth. I could be the voice of the American Wrestling Alliance fans. The guy who asked the questions they wanted the answer to. The AWA has searched for someone like that. They've given Stevie Scott that chance... Todd Michaelson... Bucky Wilde... even my old broadcast partner Colt Patterson. They've all done their best to be controversial... to be the person who asked the tough questions and got the real answers. But in the opinion of this humble interview guy, they have all failed. They have failed to be THE GUY that the fans of this company need - the guy they can count on to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I, however, believe I can be that guy. You have seen hints of it in the past - hints that have earned me countless slaps on the wrist by the powers that be. Hints that have gotten my very position in this company threatened. I push... and I back off... I push... and I back off. But as times change, I find myself at a crossroads where I can no longer stand back and let the AWA's top stars get by with softball questions. The AWA wants to send me a message by giving my spot in the Control Center to my best friend, Mark Stegglet? Then allow me to send a message right back. For the first time ever, AWA All Access will mean EXACTLY that. No pulled punches, no canned statements, no press releases. I will bring you the news that my bosses may not want you to hear... and while I may get fired because of it, at least I will go out on my feet as a man of integrity and principle. For my first news story as part of the "new" Jason Dane, I inform you that there is an internal power struggle within the offices of the AWA. On Day One, the ownership of this company has numbered six: Jon Stegglet, Bobby Taylor, Todd Michaelson, my sister Lori Dane-Michaelson, Bill Masterson, and an unknown "silent partner" who, for the very first time, I can reveal was indeed who the rumors said it was... it was former EMWC Owner Chris Blue. Less than a year into the existence of the AWA, Chris Blue was bought out by the other five partners - feeling as though his controversial past would taint what they were trying to accomplish if his position with the company was ever brought to light. Those five owners have remained the same ever since until this past week. Bill Masterson, longtime Vice President of Talent Relations for the EMWC, who filled a similar role here in the AWA, was quite vocal about his distaste for some of the recent direction shifts of the AWA - things like changing the National Title into a World Title... like running a show in Los Angeles... like allowing Chris Blue to become involved in any fashion with the business once more. The recent on-air destruction of the Longhorn Heritage Title belt was yet another as many have pushed to spin off that championship into something else altogether. As a result, Masterson's share of the company was bought out by the remaining four owners. Almost immediately after this went down, Lori Dane-Michaelson decided to leave the company as well, selling her shares directly to her husband - an action that leaves Todd Michaelson, Bobby Taylor, and Jon Stegglet as the remaining owners of the American Wrestling Alliance. Many will point out that these backstage dealings do not need to be known by the fans - that the show they watch will not change. I argue that it already has with the arrival of former EMWC competitors like Dave Bryant, Chris Staley, and November. With the quiet efforts to show longtime AWA competitors like Johnny Casanova, Dick Bass, and Bruno Verhoeven the door. With the re-introduction of Joe Petrow and Mark Langseth into the mix. The times they are a-changin' before our very eyes and only time will tell if that is change in the right direction. So, there you have it. The first real "scoop" brought to you by Jason Dane. I once was the voice of a wrestling Revolution - that time may rise again but for now, I'll take being your voice. I'll take being the man who asks your questions and get you your answers. I'll take being the man to get the scoops that you want... that you NEED to hear. Until next time... my name is Jason Dane... and that's the way it is.


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