Saturday, March 10, 2007

Arena Report: LAW Rector, AR 3.9.07

----LAW’s weekly debut put on their best show last night, since the start of this site. Guess what?? That is what they needed to give it a shot in the arm for a weekly event. I talked with LAW CEO Jeff O’Dell briefly before the show and I ask “Can you draw in Rector on a weekly basis??” and he responded by saying, “We better – I bought this place!!”

----O’Dell invested money into two building which also include 6 apartments. Since I am not too familiar with Rector, AR, the building looked to be located downtown Rector to me. They have store fronts like small businesses [which they probably were at one time], so the exposure looks good. O’Dell was very appreciative and praising of his crew that helped get the building ready for shows. The building had a lot of water damage and it was pretty much re-done with a crew of very dedicated guys and girls that as O’Dell put it, “A lot of people helped for free that wanted to see wrestling succeed here in Rector.”

----I also talked with Kelly Warner a little bit before the show and he informed me their plans were to have a small fitness center next door and to rent the apartments when they get them ready. The best I can find out is that LAW got a hell of deal on this property. I wish the best for them as they have had experience in a weekly show and they know it is a lot harder to make money and such.

----Tatt2 beat Dell Tucker in a good opener. This is the best singles bout I have seen Tatt2 work. Tucker is a good solid worker. It had good psychology as Tatt2 took a nasty stomach bump to the floor to set up the heat. Tatt2 came out of the heat hitting Tucker with a BIG MOVE [169] and finished him off with a sunset flip out of the corner. [**]

----Chris O’Neal/Christian Jacobs/Matt Boyce beat Derrick King/Rockin Randy/Erik Hayes in the best tag team bout on the show. A longer than usual face shine as all three babys got put over good. Boyce looks better than the last time I seen him. The WWE camp did him good. Heat was on Boyce and DK was stiff as hell on a lot of spots. A few kicks and chops made me cringe. Hot tag ended up with DK putting Boyce on the top turnbuckle for a suplexplex – Boyce pushed him off and hit a flying press for the pin. [***]

----Tim Alfonzo beat Shannon Lee. It was hard to follow the match before them, so the crowd wasn’t into this match. These two guys are both small and need lots of work. Good solid match though with psychology. Alfonso did a dive outside the ring for the no reason, but it looked like it killed him. Alfonso came out of heat and hit Lee with a Lionsault for the pin. [*]

----Stan Lee beat Flash Flanagan by DQ. Stan got a huge pop coming out. Flash used a mulekick to the nuts to go into the heat. Lee took a closeline out of a hope spot with a bump that made it looked killed him. Flash hit Stan with a chair on the back and the ref DQ’ed him. Flash kept beating on Lee and put his head in the chair. He was going to jump from the middle rope and stomp his head in the chair, but the faces made the save. [***1/4] This was better than the Ripley, TN match I seen early this year.

----LAW Tag Team Title Match: “The Posse” [Simon/Lil Chris] beat “Black Out” Squad to retain the belts. This bout was not as good as the last time in Rector, but the crowd was so crazy for the Posse I am not sure it mattered. The front of the match was real sloppy with double team moves from Posse, but then they quickly went into the heat on Chris. Hot tag to Simon for a hope spot and then heat on Simon. Double heat works well when you got a team over like the Posse. It gets over the heel team, because babys take a beating. The marks believe that the BOS can beat the Posse now, but the Posse were smarter and won. After the hot tag, Bishop cut off Chris, but Simon hit Bishop in the nuts, so Chris rolled him up for the pin. [**]

----Main Event: Loser Leaves Town – LAW Title Match: Dustin Starr beats Brian Christopher to win the title back. As most of you know, Christopher is more psychology than actually wrestling. The crowd was into the match. They ran a few spots with the ref [Kelly Warner] about how fast to count with the ref counting fast for Dustin being pinned and slow for Brian C. Crowd got into it and it was good. Heat started after Starr reversed a throw into the wall and Brian C took an awesome bump into the wall outside the ring. The finish had a ref bump and Brian having Starr pinned. DK & Flash ran out to help Starr. DK held Brian for Flash, but Flash hit DK. Then Starr did the same thing. DK turned face by double stunning both of them and leaving the ring. Brian then had Starr pined again, but Flash hit Brian with something to have Starr get the pin. Flash/Starr started beating up Brian again, but DK made the save. Warner left with the belt as if it was held up. Brian/DK did that stupid dance after the match. The crowd loved it. [**1/2]

----105 in attendance with probably around 80 paid. Gate close to $700…Christian Jacobs is huge!! Jacobs wore orange, O’Neal wore purple and Boyce had purple/orange on. They looked good as a team. O’Neal spent one part of the match just working the arm of his opponent and still getting heat. O’Neal needs a new look and a haircut with Jacobs/Michael tagging as “Picture Perfect” now…To get either Alfonzo or Lee over, they need to have a program of some kind as the crowd really doesn’t care about them yet…Tickets will be $6 starting next week dropping off from $10-$8 [average of $9]. I would have not dropped so much. I would have dropped to $7 and charge $10 for the big shows…Bishop is the second biggest guy on this roster and Oz has such good heel presence for a little guy. His facial expressions and working of the crowd is on…Main event left the crowd guessing on if Starr won the belt and if Brian C has to leave town or not. As of now, the angle will have Starr being the champ and Brian leaving. Starr will feud with DK over the LAW Title. Crowd left happy also with Brian C doing that dance and such…This might get all confusing to people that travel to all the shows, but LAW is not TLCW. LAW will have Flash as a heel feuding with Lee and TLCW has Flash as a baby feuding with DK. DK is a heel in TLCW, but will be a baby here feuding with Starr. Lee is a baby in LAW feuding with Flash and a baby in TLCW feuding with Starr. Did you get that??

**Picture taken from ring of floor and chairs of building. I liked the floor.