I visited Woodie's seminar in Prague this June (had a vacation there and it would be stupid not to spend one day to learn something interesting) and can definately say that there is nothing magical about Woodies CCI at all.
For example, for ZLRs Woodies DOES NOT use only CCI. He uses and recommends proprietary Sidewinder, but it' not a secret that SW is just a combination of LSMA and 34EMA to define a trend which people like GB007 use for ages. So no surprise ZLRs really work with MA filter. At least for me they do (though I prefer to rely on price action rather than indicators, they are all too lagging for me, even CCI).
The same with other patterns with exotic names like "Vegas" etc. When I saw Vegas I asked Woodie: "but it's just a divergence isn't it" and he just said "yes".
So presonally I can't imagine how such essential things like trend retracements and divergences cannot work. They are the essence of the markets, so they are bound to work.
The main strength in Woodies system in my opinion is his position management. He definately cuts losses short, doesn't let the profit turn into a loss and lets the profits run. And it pays off...
So I had quite a positive impression from Woodie. He just properly uses things everyone knows about but 90% don't follow and absolutely no surprise he makes money with it.
BTW he said, Mark Douglas is going to mention him in his new book which will be released soon. We'll see.
My 2 cents about Woodie...