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In the SPOTLIGHT!
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FWrestling.com - Circuit News and Info
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FWrestling.com - Circuit News and Info
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Fwrestling.com news
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ESEN Spotlight: The Killing of the King
“Eli Flair? He’s the Epitome’s footnote. He’s the also – ran to my name in lights. Don’t think I’m trippin’ - we fought wars in the ring, we changed the business more times than I own property. He’s a legend, he’s just not Troy. But is it really that bad, being second best to Mr. CSWA?” – Troy Windham
“I think there’s a Troy Windham somewhere in every walk of life – a ridiculously talented individual who makes it to the pinnacle without a shred of respect for the people who paved the way. Troy’s deserved every bit of fame he’s gotten, I just wish he could’ve realized that he didn’t do it all on his own.” – Eli Flair
They headlined only one show in professional wrestling history against each other, and were constantly overshadowed by other matches and feuds of the day. However, there was perhaps no other instance in the history of this sport where two men not only brutalized each other with this much intensity, but were so eager to step in the ring against each other one more time.
With CSWA GOLD RUSH officially in the books, the war that waged between ‘The Epitome’ Troy Windham and ‘Total Elimination’ Eli Flair has officially come to an end as Flair has retired from the sport. But this was no ordinary feud. This feud crossed promotional lines, like many others. This feud involved championships, like many others. This feud involved personal slights, backstabs and sneak attacks, like many others. This feud changed both men forever and scarred innocent bystanders forever, like many others.
And yet, this feud was unlike anything else professional wrestling has ever seen, and potentially will ever see. This feud was between two of the most evenly matched wrestlers in the history of the sport.
ESEN SPOTLIGHT
THE KILLING OF THE KING
EXTREME VS SLACKER
ELI FLAIR VS TROY WINDHAM
Individually, Eli Flair and Troy Windham are two of the greatest wrestlers that the world has ever seen. They are both World Champions many times over. Both could cut a promo to cut right through anyone unfortunate enough to be their next opponent. Both could both dish out and take incredible amounts of punishment in any type of match, and both were revered at one time or another as the absolute best the business had to offer.
In a way, these two men were as similar as they were different. A staredown between them was like staring into a broken mirror.
First there was Troy…
Troy Windham started his career first, a skinny, nineteen year old rookie who was just the latest Windham to enter the sport of professional wrestling. The year was 1993, and Troy joined two men he knew of as his cousins in Greensboro’s finest export. He had a rough go of it at first, because, while he had all the skills necessary to prove he belonged in the CSWA, he was still considered a Windham, employed solely because of Mark Windham. By that time, Mark Windham was both a four – time CSWA United States Champion and former National Champion, and was part of America’s Team, at that time the most visible partnership in the company.
If there was any quit in Troy’s being, it would have manifested during that first year. He dealt with opponents who did what they could to bury him, fans that compared everything he did to his cousin Mark and, later, ‘The Muppet Kid’ Timmy Windham who would shock the world by defeating Mike Randalls for the Enterprise World Championship. He dealt with rumors of nepotism and favoritism and enjoyed almost zero respect from the rest of the company during this space of time.
All the while, he continued to wrestle as often as possible against as many unforgiving opponents as he could. The seeds for what would one day define Troy Windham were sown in that first year. Troy learned that the business was a cold, cruel place, and that any recognition he was to gain, he would have to fight for. So precious was that small bit of respect that, once he had won his first title a year later with his Greensboro Championship victory against Bonecrusher, he had already vowed to himself to never share that respect with anyone else.
Unfortunately, the man who was, very soon, to be known as the King of the Slackers, was once again overshadowed by the wars fought between and among Hornet, Mike Randalls, and his own cousin Mark. Troy would lose the Greensboro title to ‘Nine Inch Nail’ Kevin Dunlap, and ultimately find himself mired in the same limbo all competent, capable wrestlers find themselves when the company doesn’t know what to do with them: mired in tag teams. He would team with Junior Hornet in Crazy Like a Slacker, as well as ‘Showtime’ Shawn Matthews in Generation X-Press. It was in this second team that he would finally find his traction in the CSWA, as Generation X-Press found themselves the EN World Tag Team Champions headed into the biggest event in professional wrestling history, CSWA Fish Fund XI: End of an Era.
Then there was Eli…
The man who would come to be known as the Original Nobody had a slightly different path to the feud that would ultimately define him. Eli Flair began his career in less mainstream surroundings: a gym in the Bronx. He started in the winter of 1994 in the independent promotion headquartered two blocks from his meager apartment, and slowly worked his way to success in a string of regional promotions that dovetailed from New York to Arizona, with a few notable stops along the way. It was the Arizona based PYBA company that he first tasted gold, as the company’s United States champion for the final four months of its existence. While he managed to make a name for himself in the underground rumor mill as a consummate professional, Eli’s big break would come with the announcement of the 1995 ULTRATITLE tournament.
A far cry from New Frontier Wrestling’s innovative, groundbreaking Seasons format of the past few years, the 1995 ULTRATITLE was a two hundred and fifty six wrestler single elimination tournament, with the ultimate prize; aside from the Ultratitle itself; being a shot at the Unified World Championship that, at the time, was held by Hornet.
Yes, that Hornet.
At the time, the Unified Title was a championship recognized across promotional boundaries. The Unified Title was a belt that was even more revered than the most successful promotion’s World Championship. After all, a World Title meant you were the absolute best that that promotion had to offer at that time, but the Unified Title meant that you were the best over a span of wrestling companies. Hornet had built the title himself over the course of the CSWA’s rise from Greensboro’s best kept secret to the most successful wrestling company in recorded history, and was the most visible icon that the company had had through the course of its seven year history to date.
The man who would one day be known as the King of Extreme fought his way to the Sweet Sixteen, where he was eliminated by former five – time PYBA World Heavyweight Champion, and future Unified World Champion JT Tyler. But it was enough for him to get his foot in the door.
Eli, then known simply as The Eliminator, had a decent enough showing during the 1995 Ultratitle to be offered a CSWA contract which he snapped up in a hurry. He spent his first few months showing off his skills, until the CSWA decided to resurrect a defunct championship at ELVIS LIVES CELEBRATION IX: Disney Days.
His first taste of gold would nearly bring him to the history books in and of itself, as Eli would hold the CSWA IntraContinental championship for a near – record – setting eight months. Eli defended his belt against all comers in any type of match from the moment he won the belt through CSWA Anniversary 1996, where he voluntarily vacated the belt three weeks shy of Joey Melton’s record in hopes of moving up the card.
He would do so following that spring’s CSWA Battle of the Belts XIV, where he took the CSWA Presidential Championship from perennial top contender Jack ‘Summer’ Samson. With the not – yet – legendary Poison Ivy in his corner, The Eliminator looked to be unstoppable as he entered the fall of 1996 with his sights set on Fish Fund Park Arena, and old rival ATTAXX.
Editor's Note: Much, much more to come thanks to Mr. Russo. In Part Two, coming later this week, the careers collide.
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