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Hostile Takeover!

Posted: Jul 7th 2011 By: CMBurnham

For 9 years, the one name fans could count on to bring the taste of bile to their mouths and hatred to their hearts was Johnny Z. From his beginnings in ACW to the formation of IZW to his year-plus run as MSWA Mid-South Champion, Johnny Z made it clear that he had no respect for anyone except his fellow members of Impact, Inc. And he certainly had no love for the fans.

Could it be possible that this man, who kicked Erica in the face, who essentially forced her into slavery to himself and humiliated her in front of her boyfriend Double D on repeated occassions and who went so far as to proclaim himself the saviour of wrestling in Oklahoma, might have some redeeming quality about himself?

Most fans would have said no. But that was before the events of two weeks ago.

At Evolution on June 18, 2011, Johnny Z and Double D went to battle in the Steel Cage. It's already being touted as Match of the Year candidate. And finally, after a year's worth of humiliation and abuse, Double D got a clear victory over Double D and liberated Erica from his clutches. The next week, D got a shot at IZW Champion Jermaine Johnson, whom he had a prolonged issue with in MSWA, also surrounding Erica. In what was really no surprise, Impact, Inc. interfered when it became clear that Johnson wasn't going to be victorious, but then is when everything turned. Earlier that night, Z had invited D to his "Catching Some Z's" segment and simply shook his hand and left the ring, ordering Impact, Inc. to do the same. When the attack came on D in the main event, Johnny ran out to the ring and made it clear that D was going to be able to leave the ring without any further beating. This left Impact, Inc. alone with Johnny Z. And that's when the Impact Zone became Bizarroland as Johnson smashed Johnny in the head with his title belt. Johnny's own brother, Jeff Wolfenbarger, then picked Johnny up and connected with the Attorney Drop. And then Impact, Inc., the group that John had created in 2004, left without him, a clear sign that he was no longer welcome in their presence.

So there were plenty of questions that fans wanted answered when the show opened on July 2nd. And Johnny Z came out wanting answers of his own. He told the crowd (who greeted him with an even mixture of applause and boos) that last week was the most surreal moment in his career. After playing the moment on the Zorthotron (due to the wrong episode of Impact TV being played the night before) so everyone could see what he meant, he told the fans that he had gone over the moment in his mind again and again looking for answers and he just doesn't get it. He had led IZW for 7 years and done what he believed was the best for it. A few months ago, he brought back his brother (who had not been active in IZW since 2006) because he knew he couldn't keep running this company on his own forever. He even said that Double D proved a lot to him and made him remember why he got into the business. In return, he showed D respect and said thier issue was over. And in return, he got the biggest moment of ungratefulness and and disrespect he's ever known. Now, he wants some answers and he asked the "2 dumbasses" (Johnson and his brother) to walk down and answer why they did what they did.

Johnny didn't get what he wanted as Jeff appeared on the screen. He said that Johnny wasn't in control anymore, but that he would be glad to answer all of his questions. He just wouldn't do it at the moment. Instead, at the end of the show, he promised to come out and call Johnny out. He also told Johnny to beware what he asked for. Z, knowing he would not get any answers at this point, dropped the microphone and left the ring.

True to his word, Jeff Wolfenbarger made his way to the ring after the main event and called for his brother. This time, the split in the fan appreciation was about 90% cheer and 10% boos. Johnny made his feelings very clear from the start, saying that if Jeff were anyone else, there wouldn't be a conversation. They would handle it differently and Johnny would kick Jeff's ass all over the arena. But since their mother wasn't there (at the request of Johnny), he was going to do something that was very hard for him, out of respect for her. He was going to shut up and let Jeff talk for a few minutes. Then, when he figures out where Jeff lost his mind, he'll say what he feels.

Jeff said he has never been saner and that he never thought he would see Johnny moan and cry to the fans. This showed him that Johnny had lost it and gone soft. He had the biggest match of his career and then the next week, after losing, he called Double D out and shook his hand. That went against everything that Jeff had been taught by Johnny. Impact, Inc. was ready to exact some revenge last week, but Johnny told them to walk away. That let Jeff know that he had to do something. Jeff's tone changed as he made it clear to Johnny that last week had been a warning and that he has started a hostile takeover of IZW. According to Jeff, Johnny has to choices: Walk away and leave the company to Jeff or the take over can be even more hostile than it already is.

At that point, the members of Impact, Inc., who had made thier way down the ramp during Jeff's talk, surrounded the ring. Johnny assessed the situation and seemed to decide that was best for him to leave, so he slid out of the ring and began to walk to up the ramp. But then he ran back to the ring and slid it, throwing punches at Jeff's head. This brought Johnson, Price and IZW Impact Division Champion Michael Barry into the ring and the odds quickly shifted. Johnny tried to hold his own, but 4-on-1 didn't leave much hope for the "Natural Born Leader". Randy Price took Johnny down with a piledriver and Michael Barry tried to follow that up with a Saturday Night Special. Johnny was able to fight his way out of that, but there was no one coming to help him and again the 4-on-1 odds were too overwhelming. Eventually, Barry succeeded with the SNS. Jermaine Johnson then applied a modified version of the Crippler Crossface and finally, as had happened the previous week, Jeff lifted Johnny up and connected with the Attorney Drop. Then, in an act reminiscent of the Eddie Gilbert/Bill Watts fued in 1986, Jeff symbolically "buried" his brother under an IZW T-shirt.

Some fans probably wondered why no one came to Johnny's aid during this attack. There are essentially two reasons. First, all the other fan favourites had been laid out in attacks during thier matches. NWA-OK Oklahoma Tag Team Champion Ky-ote Joe was tending the injury that fellow champion Montego Seeka had received. Aaron Neil was recovering from match with Kevin Morgan and Angel Williams was in no shape to assist anyone after his beating at the hands of Wage. Double D was fine after his match with Michael Barry, but why would he come to assist Johnny Z? In FACT, why would ANYONE come to Johnny's aid? For 7 years, Johnny has used and disposed of friends when he feels it's convenient. Close friends, like Neil and Bernie D were disposed of after they no longer fit in. And now Johnny knows how that feels. As a man who surrounded himself with henchmen to assist in any situation, Johnny now finds himself a man alone, with his company and his personal safety at risk. It's a position Johnny has never been in before. And with his own brother, who is a practicing lawyer, spearheading the movement to drive Johnny out of IZW, Johnny may soon find himself in the unfamiliar position of begging not to lose everything he has spent the last 7 years creating.