Disclaimer: The opinion and views of the participants in the following interview are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of GNN. Reader discretion is advised.

Round Table Discussion (Part 1)

Mr. Tech: Greetings everyone. I am Mr. Tech and I will be hosting this round table discussion. First I’d like to make introductions. To my left are Mr. Caleb Beagle, current American Wrestling Federation (A.W.F.) President, Mr. Ross A.W.F. Head Referee and representing the wrestlers of the A.W.F., the current InterContinental Champion, RPG. To my right are Mr. Mike Young, representing the Jack McQuire Sportsmanship Group (JMSG) and Ms. Davis of the American Wrestling Federation Magazine (A.W.F.M.).

The primary topic for tonight’s discussion is the Jack McQuire Sportsmanship Group and its Award. So we will start there. Mr. Balderramos claims that he “owns” the American Wrestling Federation and as a result also “owns” the A.W.F.M as well as JMSG and the Jack McQuire Sportsmanship Award (JMSA)…. Mr. Beagle?

Mr. Beagle: Before we get too far I would like to state that Tim has never produced any evidence that he “owns” the A.W.F….

Mr. Tech: Understood, but for the moment let us focus on the JMSG and the JMSA.

Ms. Davis: I thought we cleared up the ownership of the Magazine 10 or 15 years ago. Why is that being brought up again?

Mr. Tech: Apparently, Mr. Balderramos has forgotten our previous discussion on that matter. Please, let us focus on the Group and its Award. Mr. Young, would you provide the history on that topic?

Mr. Young: Gladly. Rob and Jack McQuire are friends of mine from Michigan. Jack was planning on coming here to South Dakota to compete against members of the A.W.F. Before he was able to make the trip, he was killed in an accident. During October FunFest of that year, Tony (Mr. Tech – ed. note) presented me with a plaque awarding me the first ever Jack McQuire Sportsmanship Award. I spoke with Rob and the rest of the family and they were honored that we would remember Jack in this way and that as Jack’s friend, the responsibility for this award fell on my shoulders. Rob gave this responsibility directly to me. Not to Anthony Tech, not to the A.W.F., only to me. Because of that stipulation by Jack’s family, the Jack McQuire Sportsmanship Group was created and rules were emplaced establishing the guidelines as to who could be awarded the JMSA.

Mr. Tech: But Mr. Balderramos stated that this is an AWF award.

Mr. Young: One would think so based on just the initial awarding to me. But that is not the case. Other competitors from other organizations, and I mean outside the A.W.F., have been nominated with one winning the Award. So it is not exclusive to the American Wrestling Federation.

RPG: Can’t anyone be nominated?

Mr. Young: Yes, any person can be nominated. This was originally designed to allow everyone a chance to be recognized. The drawback is that anyone can be nominated…

RPG: Idi Amin, Adolph Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer …

Mr. Young: Or Mr. Balderramos, in this case.

RPG: But he’s trying to give the Award to T. A. Starfire…

Mr. Young: Correct; it is a nomination that has a multitude of problems with it. First being is that the Award is given to a person, never to a character. Second, it is NEVER issued posthumously, because of Jack’s death….

Mr. Ross: So if he made the nomination out to Tim “T.A. Starfire” Balderramos, then it would be okay? And if so, then how can he award it to himself.

Mr. Young: On the first part, “Yes”, the nomination would have to be for Tim “T.A. Starfire” Balderramos, Tim “Brian ‘T.J.’ Daring” Balderramos, Tim “Scrota” Balderramos, or whichever of his personalities he wants to use. As for the second part the answer is “No”. No one can award the JMSA to themselves, or anyone else for that matter. Only former Awardees may vote on who the Award will be presented to that year. Or they may vote to not issue the Award, and that happens more often than not.

Mr. Beagle: There have been a couple of major changes to the Award in the past and each time you had to contact Rob, is that correct?

Mr. Young: Yes. I always get approval from the McQuire family before making any changes. Perhaps the biggest change to date is that a person is nominated within a category. That is how Mr. Tech and Mr. Beagle are multiple Award recipients. Just to clarify, the categories are Competition, Administration, and Training. Tony has won in all three, Caleb in Competition and Administration.

RPG: Well, that’s easy since they get to vote for themselves.

Mr. Young: Actually, no, they don’t. If a person is a former awardee, they cannot vote on another nomination for themselves. Tony turned down the Award on a couple other occasions before we broke it into the three categories.

Ms. Davis: Can you encapsulate the whole procedure for us, step by step?

Mr. Young: Certainly:
Step one: A person is nominated. If it is for Competition, then their character name is also applied, if they use one.
Step two: All nominees are evaluated by former awardees. We look for outstanding characteristics, what they’ve done or not done, and compare that to others.
Step three is the voting. We eliminate all ineligible candidates and review those who remain, if any.
Step four is presenting the Award. This is done in October, the month that Jack died. Their name is put on the master plaque, which is in my possession, and they are given plaque of their own. Also, they are given a…

Mr. Tech: Careful! We don’t want fraudulent duplicates being created.

Mr. Young: Good point. A “trinket” is also given to the Awardee.

RPG: So why hasn’t Tim won it? Has he never been nominated?

Mr. Tech: Tim “T.A. Starfire” was nominated once, but given his conduct in the ring, it’s easy to understand how he was disqualified. Even if he were to be nominated in the other categories, he’s already disqualified himself.

Ms. Davis: How so?

Mr. Young: Well, trying to steal the JMSA so he can award it to himself is certainly unsportsmanlike, so that eliminated the “Administration” category. And judging from the reports about the competitors in his various organizations, I doubt he’d qualify under “Training” category.

Mr. Ross: So what your saying is that regardless of how many times Tim “T.A. Starfire” Balderramos might get nominated, he will never win the JMSA.

Mr. Young: In a nutshell, yes. Unless something drastic were to happen.

RPG: Can’t you permanently put a ban on any of his nominations, and end this?

Mr. Young: It has been discussed, and I may take the matter to Rob for further discussion. But at this point, no, we cannot ban Tim, yet.

Ms. Davis: How does one submit a nomination?

Mr. Young: Nominees and their information can be submitted to Mr. Tech via email (uncleartech@gmail.com - ed. note) who will forward the information to me.

Ms. Davis: Why not…?

Mr. Young: I’m not big on the Internet. Tony is the liaison for the JMSG.

Mr. Tech: So we’ve discussed the history and “ownership”, as it were, of the Jack McQuire Sportsmanship Group and the Jack McQuire Sportsmanship Award. And we’ve discussed the nomination and awarding procedure. Am I forgetting anything?

Mr. Ross: I don’t believe so.

Mr. Tech: So the short version is…?

Mr. Young: The short version is that Tim does not own the JMSG nor the JMSA. He has been nominated in the past, but has never been awarded the JMSA. Tim wanted to give himself a sportsmanship award, after our comments during an A.W.F.M. interview that was posted on Triple-G’s website (https://gggnews.tripod.com/gnn_interview_040612.html - dated April 12, 2012 – ed. note) We said he could do whatever he wanted within his own AWF, just that he could not reference the JMSG or the JMSA, for the reasons stated earlier.

Mr. Tech: Any more comments on this topic?

Mr. Tech: Okay, our next topic is more for Mr. Ross, as the A.W.F. Head Referee. Triple-G has proposed recognizing an A.W.F. World Title reign for Tim “T.A. Starfire” Balderramos, specifically referencing the “gutbuster” match. It is their belief that recognizing this as a Title reign for Tim would go far in closing the books on the ongoing squabble between our American Wrestling Federation and him.

(end of Part 1)