Memphis Wrestling TV Report 11.25.06

----Corey Maclin joins with commentary. Maclin commentary was dubbed in from tapings last weekend. They did a very good job making the TV viewers think Corey was there live.

----Derrick King with Reggie B Fine over Matt Foley. This was pretty much a squash. Foley got to do a few moves. Fine/King beat up Foley after the match and Tatt2 made the save with a chair.

----“Picture Perfect”[Jon Michael/Chris O’Neal]/Tatt2/”The Posse”[‘Lil Chris/Simon Reed] over by DQ Fire/Flame/”Cowboys”[Ricky Murdoch/Bill Nasty]/Giggles. Bobo switch in and out with Giggles without Corey saying anything. Everybody looked good for this bout. “Cowboys” didn’t even look bad. ‘Lil Chris is green, but was well protected.

----Jethro wth Nate the Rat beat Drew Donavon. Nate the Rat called Jethro – “the Hillbilly Assassin”. I guess that is his big change in gimmick and name. Jethro uses a chain to beat Drew in a total squash. Not very good. Grady Watson comes out to tell Nate he seen Jethro use the chain. Watson pushes down Nate – Watson runs from Jethro. Horrible!!

----“Opening the Vault” with Lance Russell – Jerry Lawler is featured this week. Lawler clip with Lance telling story of a 15 year old Lawler would send in sketches into Russell of the Memphis matches. They showed some of the sketches. Lawler vs Terry Funk – no DQ match clips aired next. This is one of my all time favorite bouts. Next was video to “I Walk Alone” by Green Day, which I think was just an old video that they put a new song behind it. Next week: More Jerry Lawler.

----Jerry Lawler/Kevin White/Dustin Starr beat Flash Flanagan/”Too Cool 2” [Tim Grind/Flex]. Good match. Heat was on White with hot tag to both Lawler/Starr. Starr went outside the ring with Grind in the crowd. White got hit with a foreign object and Flex had him pinned, but White kicked out. Lawler then rolled Flash up from behind. Heels beat up babys after the match and left them in the ring.

RassleNotes: Tatt2 and ‘Lil Chris did a “Naughty by Nature” trademark double team drop down dropkick move on Bobo …Corey admitted he could not tell Bobo/Giggles apart, but he has been able to for weeks??...He also was calling Jon Michael – “Michaels”…Why does Jethro have to use a chain to win?? Why does he still come out to the Beverly Hillbillies theme, when he doesn’t want to be a Hillbilly?? I am confused???....Well, they finally broke their streak of 8 weeks – this was not a must see show. The 10 man was good, but had no meaning – why not try to start a feud with two of these teams?? The main event was the only thing worth watching on the whole show and maybe the Funk vs Lawler clips.

----This Memphis Wrestling TV report is also posted every week on http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/, http://www.pwinsider.com/, http://www.declarationofindependents.net/ and http://www.pwtorch.com/

Arena Report Thanksgiving Night Rector, AR 11.23.06

----Kevin White beat Chris O’Neal in a face vs face match. Just pretty much hold for hold with very little psychology. One point White started throwing some punches, but the fans really didn’t know who to cheer for. Nothing wrong—nothing special [*1/2]

----Jeff O’Neal announced at the front of the show that the promotion had not had tag team champions since May, 2005, so it was time to crown new ones. “Too Cool 2” [Tim Grind/Flex] were scheduled to wrestle “The Posse” [Simon Reed/’Lil Chris] [photo above with fan] with the winning team being the champs. Flex was not there, so the “Filthy Freaks” [Tim Grind/Matt Foley] from Ripley’s TLCW came out. Grind is real good on the mic and comes off as a total prick heel as opposed to the goofy role he does on TV. Foley is pretty good on the mic and has a good body. Grind does his spill and then “The Posse” come out and gets a huge pop. They are tons over and the match is set up for later that night.

----Chris O’Neal beat Seth Knight in probably the best bout of the show. Perfect psychology with Knight [to the left with fan] coming out to challenge anyone that would fight him as a heel. O’Neal got a good reaction, even though he had just got beat. They work real good versus each other. O’Neal won with a tornado DDT. [**1/2]

----Derrick King came out with Tony Gunn to do a build up for the main event. DK was talking to Gunn as Flash Flanagan jumped him from behind. They beat up Gunn until Bill Dundee made the save to set up Gunn/Dundee vs DK/Flash for the main event. As DK was leaving the ring, he punched some kid at the announcer’s desk as part of an angle. The kid has some kind of loose tooth gimmick and he was suppose to spit out his tooth to put over DK being a bad ass heel. DK, instead stiffed the kid in the nose, busting it and almost breaking it. Not cool. If you are going to set up an angle with someone, even though they might not be trained, then it is your responsibility to take care of that person. I was told DK told the kid he was going to punch him, [you know since wrestling is real] but no one thought that would be the case. If LAW was working with a coach or police chief of a town [as a lot of small promotions use as special refs or whatever], I don’t think DK would have stiffed them.

----“The Posse” beat “Filthy Freaks” to become the new LAW Tag Team Champions. Good psychology here as the heat was on Chris. Fans love these guys and were into the match. Well, they were into it until around the finish and it turned into a total clusterfuck. Chris finally ended up pining Foley with a top rope sunset flip as Foley was checking on Grind. Crowd popped like crazy for the win. [**]

----Psycho [pic to right with fan] beat Dustin Starr and Tatt2 in a 3-way Dance. Psycho got the biggest pop of the night with his entrance. And, that is probably the best thing I can say about this bout. LOL It was the a total clash of styles and was a total clusterfuck. None of the moves in the match looked bad, but it was more like what are they doing?? I think I could have seen a good match here if it was have been just a singles combo of any of three guys [Starr vs Psycho, Psycho vs Tatt2, Starr vs Tatt2], but due to a Big Steve no show and a few workers arriving after bell time, this is the match we got. Finish was good also as Starr had a chair going to hit Psycho with it after a ref bump and Tatt2 shitcanned, LAW’s Kelly Warner grabbed the chair to keep him from hitting Psycho. Starr turned around and Psycho got the roll up for the win as Warner counted Starr for the pin. Last two shows in a row that Warner has counted Starr out, so they are leading to something. [*]

----Derrick King/Flash Flanagan beat Tony Gunn/Bill Dundee[pulling DK's ear in pic below], when Flash pinned Dundee. Match was good with psychology with Flash/King getting heat on Gunn with false tags and just beating the hell out of Gunn. Crowd was into it and DK/Flash are flawless in the ring. Flawless is the key here as the finish was totally screwed and shows just how far behind Gunn is than the other 3 guys. Gunn had been shitcanned. Dundee is being pinned with his foot on the rope. [I am not 100% sure of how the finish was suppose to go, but this is how I THINK it was going.] Gunn was supposed to grab DK off the apron as he "accidentally" knocked Dundee’s foot off the ropes. Dundee gets pinned and mad, then turns on Gunn. BUT, here is what happened – Gunn did not make it to the apron on time, so Dundee just moved his leg and got pinned. Dundee just walked off after the loss with Gunn leaving with no heat whatsoever. [**]

ArenaNotes: I counted around 91 in the crowd with a gate of around $750…Tavian Hart came out and got tons of heel heat – I guess from his shitty job last time. I usually hate refs doing manager gimmicks or such, but Hart would be the perfect one to use doing something here…Good to see Aaron Polston and Del McKie at the show…A few people in this crowd really scared me. A few times during the show, I was sure they were going after Tim Grind and Dustin Starr, who both got great heel heat…’Lil Chris looked better than last time I seen him and will probably turn out to be a good worker. Foley needs lots of help. I have no idea how old he is, but does look older than me in the face. But, he has the body of 25 year old…Tatt2 looked as fast and solid as I have seen him. His talent is catching up with his speed now or maybe he is slowing down a bit….Psycho was set up for a run in for the main, so it looks as if he was making the save for Gunn…As you can tell, nothing great on the show, but there was nothing just real horrible. A good crew of guys – from decent to excellent – but just something did not click for everyone…I had a good time and thanks to LAW crew and cast – even you Bill Dundee. LOL

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL VISITORS!!!

Shows for the Weekend 11.23 to 11.25.06

ATTENTION: If you are a promoter, please send me the address of the wrestling building. I will then be able to Google map your show, just like I have done to a few of the shows below. I have fans that write this site wanting to know directions to different buildings every week. If I get a street address, then may apply it to Google Maps.

IF I MISSED YOUR SHOW, THEN PLEASE DROP ME A LINE. I WILL ADD IT IN A LATE FRIDAY EDITION FOR SATURDAY NIGHT SHOWS.

Shows for the Weekend

----Thursday night – Thanksgiving Night – in Rector, AR for LAW featuring Tony Gunn, Psycho vs Big Steve in a hardcore match, Derrick King, “The Posse” [‘Lil Chris/Simon Reed], Seth Knight, Chris O’Neal and many more.

----Friday night in Humboldt, TN for NWA Mid-South with “Picture Perfect” V2 [Jon Michael/Chris O’Neal], “The Cowboys” [Ricky Murdoch/Big Bill Nasty], Christian Jacobs [maybe], Gaylon Ray, Pat McGuinness, Eric Hayes, Jazz and more.

----Friday night in Osceola, AR for MCW includes The Hambones, Loose Cannon, Chris Hollywood, Big Daddy LaFonce, Derrick King, Flash Flanagan, “The Posse” [Simon Reed/’Lil Chris] and more.

----Friday night in Tupelo, MS for TFW has Tony Dabbs, “Pure Destruction” [Brody & Cody Hawk],The Gold Diggers, POPULAR [Shawn Reed/Ryan Williams]with Anita Page, Scott Porteau and more.

----Saturday night New Blood Wrestling @ Country Nights 1901 Saint John Ave - Bell time 7:30 PM in Dyersburg, TN – QuikSilver,Jeremy Moore, Sir MO, Tim Alfonzo, Tank , “East Coast Bad Boys” and more.

----Saturday night in Jumpertown, MS for JWS with Chris Styles, Little Stevie Davis, Homeless Joe, Mario, Devon Raynes, Dalton Storm, Kage, Cyrus, Chaz and more.

----Saturday night in New Albany, MS 107 McGill ST [right off the square] with XWO will have Storm, Scott Porteau, "Pure Destruction"[Brody & Cody Hawk],Thomas Knox, "Asylum" [Psycho/Wraith],Danny B, and more.

----Saturday night in Paragould, AR for ACW at the National Guard Armory with Loose Cannon with Rott’n Randy, Big Indian, Deadly Dale, Idol Bane, Cody Daniels, Cujo, Hambone Express, Ed Love, Big Buster Johnson, Blakestar, Farmer Tucker, Arnez and more.

----Saturday night in Ripley, TN with TLCW – Christian Jacobs, Derrick King, Stan Lee, Flash Flanagan, Chris O’Neal, Jon Michael , Dustin Starr, Oz, Bishop, Kevin White, Big Steve, Pokerface. Bill Dundee and more.

---- Saturday night Batesville, AR at the Old Miller Gym for Main Event Wrestling. Admission is free Crazy Luke Graham Jr. & Gerry "Chubby" Graham Casino Kid, Scott Fury, Austin Lane, Ray Ray, Tommy Lane, The Danger Zone ( Hotrod Ellison & Danger Dave Foxx) and many more.

HIGH FIVE FOR THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS!!!

Tag team wrestling will probably never be as important as it once was to wrestling. I have always been a big tag team mark. I always try to duplicate the heat of “the Midnight Express” vs “Rock n Roll Express” feud with tag teams that I would manage. “The Riot Squad” always feuded with “Total Kaos” and I knew since they were so green, if they worked vs each other, then would at least have good matches. Last Saturday night I had the opportunity to see Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey team and it was a pleasure to see them together after all these years. Two of the nicest guys you will ever meet also. Thanks for being the “Midnight” one more time. HIGH FIVE to you guys!!

REAL LIFE: “I had a couple of women that I was going with. I was not married at the time. Both of those ladies got off the birth control pill and forgot to tell me. Both of those girls came up pregnant. I then have two kids I wasn’t planning on.” Dennis Condrey

TIMES CHANGED: “It's crazy. Those guys are absolutely nuts flying all over the place. Their size is deceptive. I remember the first time I wrestled Rey Mysterio. I picked him up and I actually hesitated for a second. He weighed exactly the same as my 11-year-old son and I was instinctively afraid to hurt him. Of course, I was paid back for my hesitation with a flying headscissors from him, so I didn't hesitate the next time. I've also been in matches with the Lucha Libre rules. Totally crazy. In those matches, if the legal man gets thrown out of the ring, one of his partners can take his place in the ring without tagging. When you've been wrestling tag matches for 20 years with normal rules, it's tough to adjust. You throw one of those guys out of the ring, and you're catching your breath and keeping an eye on him, and his partner, now the legal man, attacks you from behind. Unless you've been in those matches, you can't appreciate how difficult it is.” Bobby Eaton.

MY BEST DANCE PARTNER: “Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, it was a deal where we had a chemistry with those guys. I don’t know if it will ever be duplicated. It was fun. We even wrestled them last night.” Dennis Condrey

CUP OF JOE: “It's funny, everybody on the Internet seems to focus on what's wrong with wrestling today, as if they're experts. I guess if I could change anything, I'd like to go back to the days of fast-paced hour-long matches. That's where I shine. However, if the shorter time limits are the worst thing I can think of, then I really don't have any complaints. I'll tell you one story that may put it into perspective for you. My big thing is that I love to have a cup of coffee right before I wrestle. Why, I don't know, but it's something I really enjoy and I've enjoyed it for a long time. When you go back a number of years, for me to get a cup of coffee, I'd have to go to the concession stand, there was nothing backstage. So, there I am, in my wrestling tights, waiting in line along with all the fans at the concession stand. Not a great way to get psyched for a match, as you might guess. These days, there's always catering backstage, coffees, juices, sodas, food, everything. That may sound simplistic, but the little things like that which have changed about the pro wrestling business over the last few years mean a lot to me.” Bobby Eaton.

ORIGIN: “A week or so later I was at a spot show. Dennis Condrey walked up to me. I had known Dennis for a long time. He and Phil Hickerson were one of the greatest tag teams I'd ever seen back to '75. I had never really riddenwith him. We weren't close friends. And he walked up to me and said, "I gotta talk to ya'." And I say okay. And he says, "No, over here. Follow me." So we're walking trying to find a room by ourselves. I said, "Geez, Dennis, where are we going." And he said, "Louisiana." I said, "What!" He said Bill Watts wanted me, him, and Bobby to come to Louisiana. Dundee was going to be the booker and he wanted us to go and be a team. I'm thinking to myself this can't be true. He said we could make between 50 and 100 thousand dollars. I'm going, "Come on, Dennis. Jesus Christ. That's crazy." And he said,"No, it's true and he wants us to be a big heel team. The only thing was Watts didn't have a chance to hear me talk. But I guess Dundee told him. By this time I was doing okay. I said, "Okay, well let me know." Next thing I knew, Watts flew us down there for TV. I'd have to get my book to remember the exact date, but I think it was the day before Thanksgiving in 1983. Because when we got back, we all ate Thanksgiving dinner over at Dundee's house.” Jim Cornette.

----I would like thank Tapout Wrestling show at ExplicitPods.com, www.oldschool-wrestling.com message board, Pro Wrestling Torch and www.ddtdigest.com with their help with the quotes.

RassleChronicle: 11.18.06 and Memphis 10 Years Ago

----RassleChronicle covers the results of RAW/Nitro 10 years ago. This week is posted.I have also added a Herb Kunze Wrestling Tidbits column that was published at this time.

----I also stole the below from www.wrestlingobserver.com, which was 10 years ago in Memphis Wrestling this past weekend.

USWA: The highlight of the November 16th tv show was Jerry Lawler capturing the Unified title from the Colorado Kid. The finish saw both Randy Hales and Bert Prentice get into, which distracted the referee and allowed Lawler to use the dreaded illegal piledriver behind the referee’s back, before pinning Kid. The finish was said to make no sense, as Lawler no longer worked Monday night house shows due to his WWF commitments….. Doug Gilbert was set to return to the promotion as Brian Christopher’s new babyface tag team partner….. A new wrestler said to be a Michael Bolton-lookalike, billing himself as ‘Bobby Bolton’, was set to debut with the promotion on November 18th, facing Tony Falk.

RassleBits: JD McKay, Deathwish, TFW and "Cruzin For Pain" Wrestling School

----My old friend JD McKay is working ICW in Mathison,MS and I believe is booking the show there. This is also a little out of the “viewing area”, but they drew over 120 [with some guesses being 150-175 people in the building] last Saturday night and that is where Lord Humongous was, instead of Paragould, AR for the NWF show. Speaking of NWF, Huey and Saxon were told on Friday that the NWF show was canceled by Ron Spence. Lord Humongous returns to ICW on 12.2 with a match vs Ron Horn and JD wrestles The Bullet [not Bob] in a Falls Count Anywhere bout.

----“Axeman” Randall Lewis has the 5^th part of his “Deathwish” interview on Hollywood Jimmy’s site. When ask about Jerry Lawler, he says the following –

“Lawler has been the man in the Mid-South ever since Jackie Fargo stepped back and let him take the spotlight. Still dollar for dollar the best draw around. But, I’ve worked six shows with Lawler, and one time in the hallway he nodded at me. Other than that he was too busy being “The King,” off isolated from everybody else. As far as I know, the only people he talked to were Jimmy, who was managing him, and whoever his opponent happened to be. We were fellow clique members after all. He acted like all I was just another one of the jabronies in the back to him. But obviously, we know that I’m a little more than that. I think I intimidated the guy. At one time, he wouldn’t let Jimmy bring me into Memphis. Since being turned into a clown joke of an announcer making childish locker room jokes about women’s boobs in the WWE, he’s trying his best to hold on to that spotlight Jackie handed over to him in Memphis. Give the guy credit for being smart enough to know that if he had let Jimmy bring me in, I would have stolen his top spot in his own hometown.”

---- I got a few questions coming out of those comments, Do you for shoot think that Lawler is intimidated by you?? Do you think that YOU could take his top spot?? I have read your interview and consider you an intelligent person, but those comments were way off the mark. You talked many times about people having egos, well buddy, Deathwish, you got an inflated one. I would be surprised if Lawler even remembers who you are, so I know he would not be intimidated about you taking his spot. Don’t feel bad though, I see the Memphis TV show trying to continue with storylines and have been told Lawler has said he hates The Cowboys and thinks Matt Foley is horrible also – my ego is stroked by thinking maybe they are listening to what I write. Guess what?? They are not. Something a lot of people forget – he is the King and he is the top draw in this area – he cares nothing about Deathwish or Brian Tramel.

----My sincere apologies to TFW for all the crap has been started by me making a statement about how good they draw on a monthly basis. It was trying to be a compliment about how good they draw and how they must be doing something right. As I looked at the Hollywood Jimmy message board everyone gave them hell about their POs and even started stuff about whether they pay taxes or not. Yet another reason why message boards are nothing but a bunch of people that post stuff, but have no balls to post their names. Message boards without having to register with names and passwords are the worst thing about wrestling fandom. This message board is a great example of how to run a message board. I believe everyone has their right to their own opinion, but when I put my ass on the line every time I do a post it pisses me off when people can not post their real names.

----“Cruzin For Pain” wrestling school “Pit of Pain” will be holding it’s first tryouts on Decemeber 3, 2006 from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Tryouts will be limited to 20 and are closed. No girlfriends/wives/boyfriends/husbands – only the ones that are trying out. If anyone would like more information please contact @ cruznforpain@yahoo.com. This is for serious inquiries only!!

----There is a big discussion on this message board about Jerry Lawler and his role now in wrestling along with past references. I found it a good read.

RassleBits: Izzy wins belt, Steve pukes, Memphis spoilers, TGB, Psycho and Jon Michael baby??

----I got a few NWA Battlezone result from Magee, MS. Magee is a little out of my “viewing area”, but thought I would pass along a few of them featuring local guys. “Prime Time” Nick Grymes with The Coach [someone doing my gimmick??] beat Cassanova Kidd and Tysin Starr in a Triple Threat; Bonecrusher beat Calvin Rose; Rick Morgan beat Buzz Harley and Izzy Rotten beat Jesse Dalton to win the vacated NWA MS Title.

----I had the full results of TLCW, but I am getting tons of good reviews from the show Saturday night. Everyone I talk to says, “Dude…you got to go to one of our shows.” And I do plan to attend sometime soon. Funny note was that Big Steve was in trouble Saturday night because he continues to puke during every bout and DK was pissed. Sorry, you guys should make it his gimmick!! LOL

----Memphis spoilers for the upcoming 11.25.06 show has a 10-Man tag match with “Picture Perfect”[Jon Michael/Chris O’Neal]/Tatt2/”The Posse”[‘Lil Chris/Simon Reed vs Fire/Flame/Cowboys/Giggles [clowns actually switch out] and Starr/White/Lawler vs
Flanagan/”Too Cool 2”. That is the only two matches that I know about for next show. I was also told that everyone is happy with Fire/Flame. Please get rid of the Cowboys!!!

----“The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony told me that his split with NBW was due to the fact that he was just being pulled in so many directions. Anthony quit because the promotion wanted to go in one direction and he wanted to go into another one.

----Psycho got a stinger last Saturday in XOW. It was hard for him to see for bit and his neck/head hurt like hell even Sunday. Danny B got on the mic and let everyone know – “don’t do this stuff at home”,which I thought was classy.

----Dustin Starr has congrats to Jon Michael for his first born on his site tonight. I got news last night they were in the hospital, but no one called today!!! I stole a pic of the baby[to the right] from Dustin’s site though. Check his site out—Monroe thing is funny and he doesn’t seem to like USWF or the new Posse. Shoot or work?? BTW, Jon Michael along with Christian Jacobs “PP VI” won the NWA Mid South Tag Team titles in Humboldt, TN from the Cowboys Friday night.

RassleResults: JWS Jumpertown, MS 11.18.06

----Anthony Wayne vs Slammer [photo to the left] ended in DCO; “The Southern Express” [Thez/Intern] beat Pimp Daddy Parker/Cornerstone; Pitboss beat Ricky Flame; Hitman/Chris Styles beat Little Stevie Davis/Homeless Joe; Blade/Jerry Southern with Maria Blade beat Ax/Devon Raynes; “Mario” [Damion Rage] with “Luigi” beat Kage with Kani; Mark Mayhem beat “Pitbull” Dalton Storm and in the Main Event: “Backwoods Brawlers” [JJ/BJ Fuller] beat “Revolution” [Cyrus/Chaz] with Bobby Wylde.

----Just got these results in and thought I would go ahead and post them…I have been told along with “Cruzin 4 Pain” coming in December that “Family of Pain” [Sarge O’Riley/Mickey Ray] are also coming in. This should get interesting with those two teams in and no SGWA. XOW/JWS will battle it out for the spot on Saturday now…60 in attendance with a gate around $300.

RassleTube is Up and Running!!!

----I was trying to do a tribute to the Midnight and fill up time that is not Memphis Wrestling with matches of them, but I ran out of material. So, I guess we can say it is an Express special as I added a couple of Rock ‘n’ Roll bouts at the end of that segment.

----RassleTube 11.20.06 edition– “Midnight” vs Road Warriors – short match, but the heat is so crazy for this bout; Midnight vs Ron Garvin/Barry Windham – just a clip and quality is horrible, but Corny throws fire!! And look at the sell job for the fire—great stuff; R&R Express vs Midnight; “Bunkhouse Stampede” from 1985 featuring Condrey/Eaton – this was Dusty’s gimmick – sort of a prelude to a hardcore battle royal; Rock ‘N’ Roll Express vs British Bulldogs – this was taped 2.18.89 from Kansas City, MO, but it aired on Japanese TV – I think it might be the only time they ever wrestled each other; and R&R vs Savage/Poffo with the famous piledriver thru the table.

----Memphis Wrestling 11.11.06 with “Opening the Vault” – Tojo Yamamoto; Fire/Flame/Jethro vs “Picture Perfect” [Jon Michael/Chris O’Neal]/Tatt2 and Lawler/Kevin White/Dustin Starr vs “Too Cool 2”/Flash.

RassleResults USWF Corinth, MS 11.17.06 - Taylor wins title!!

----Tysin Starr beat Bubba Boodrow [photo to right]; Keith Haynes Jr beat Danny Morris/Concrete Cowboy in a Handicap Match; Bonecrusher beat Buzz Harley by COR; “CIA” [Izzy Rotten/Cassanova Kidd/”Prime Time” Nick Grymes beat Psycho/Dalton Storm/Little Steve Davis and in the Main Event: Neil Taylor beat Dustin Starr in a “Street Fight” to become the new USWF Champion.

----I was told the crowd looked bigger this week with 50 paid and a gate of $250…Big pop for Taylor winning the belt. Starr seems to be getting over everywhere as a heel…No show this coming Friday night, return on 12.01.06 with a “Fan Appreciation Night” – All Tickets $1!!! – USWF Title Match: Taylor vs Starr; CIA vs Psycho/Davis/Dalton Storm and Bonecrusher vs Harley already signed for that event.

Ratings Are In!! Lawler Continues His Streak!!

----The show scored a 4.4 this week with 73,409 average viewers. Another good week of ratings and another week that a live TV match featuring Jerry Lawler losing viewers.

----The first quarter opened with “Too Cool 2”/Lawler interview, the battle royal and ended when Grady Watson stepped out scored 4.1 [67,749 viewers]. The second quarter jumped 18,477 viewers scoring 5.2 [86,226 viewers]. That quarter started with Jethro interview, Jethro squash and ended just as the “Opening the Vault” segment was showing the finish of the Lawler vs Fargo match. The third quarter scored a 4.9 [81,565 viewers]losing only 4,661 viewers. It started for the Corey/Fargo interview and ended with Tatt2 vs Derrick King in the ring. The last quarter scored a 3.5 [58,427 viewers] dropping 23,138 viewers for rest of the King vs Tatt2 bout and Lawler vs Flanagan. This is the 5^th time in a row that a Jerry Lawler live match has had the highest drop of the show. The other bad trend of the show also continued with 9,322 viewers turning off the show from start to finish.

----As noted in the TV report, this was the 8^th show in a row worth watching. Jerry Lawler now has lost over 80,000 viewers in 5 weeks in his live matches. Lawler was on the almost the whole show doing commentary, but when he steps in the ring on TV, the viewers are turning off. The viewers were even watching the old clip of Lawler vs Fargo in the highest quarter. As I said last week, I would actually test the waters here and put Lawler in the second quarter of TV to see what happens.

NWF releases a statement about last night's show...

----This is the first time I can remember a promoter apologizing for his show being bad. I really didn't think it was all that bad, except maybe a bigger crowd would have been fun. As I said, in the Arena Report, I had fun and that is all that matters.

As owner and promoter of NWF Wrestling in Paragould, I want to take this time to apologize to all the wrestling fans, the sponsors, and even those promoters who were in attendance. To me this was one of the worst shows if not the worst show I have promoted; I alone take full responsibility for this. I want to thank the Midnight Express for helping put some good into another wise dismal show. Some of the fans said they enjoyed it, well to be perfectly honest if I had bought a ticket I would have demanded my money back. As a promoter it is my job to bring the fans quality wrestling this was not the case Saturday night and for this apologize to all the fans, sponsors, promoters and wrestlers who were there. I will take some time to think about this and maybe the good people will forgive me.

Ronnie Spence
NWF Wrestling

RassleResults: TLCW Ripley, TN 11.18.06

----Tatt2 defeated Reno Diamond by pinfall;Jawbreaker Jones defeated Big Badd Steve by count-out;Alex Krisis defeated Eric Hayes by pinfall; Dustin Starr's “5 Starr Showcase” with “the Blackout Squad” [Oz/Bishop] was interrupted by Chris O'Neal and led to a short brawl; Kevin White defeated nXn's Rude w/ Rashard by pinfall;Stan Lee defeated Heavyweight Champ Flash Flanagan w/ Rashard by pinfall following a restart in a non-title match and in the Main Event: “Picture Perfect” [Jon Michael/Christian Jacobs] went to a Double DQ/No Contest with Tag Champs “the Blackout Squad” [Oz/Bishop]w/ Rashard

-----Show had 105 paid with a gate around $525…Seth Knight came out and did a promo about being back in TLCW… Gryffon X came to the ring for a match and was jumped by someone in a mask. He unmasked and it was Shannon Lee.…”The Posse” [Simon Reed/’Lil Chris] was out for an interview and it was announced that next week, they would be taking on “Cruzn' 4 Pain” [Motley Cruz/187]in a graffiti match. It was also announced that Bill Dundee would be in attendance next week...At the end of the show, Dustin Starr came out to the ring looking to fight someone from the back and called out Buckwheat. As he came to the ring, O'Neal rushed the ring from the back, which led to a locker room-clearing pull-apart.

Arena Report NWF 11.18.06 Paragould, AR

----It wasn’t a great show, but I had a good time. I got lost going to the building and that was not a good sign. When I got to the show, I spent almost an hour just saying hi to people I knew in the crowd. Teco Murdoch was there with his kids. Del McKie stopped me and we talked a bit. My cousins were in attendance. The one and only - Brian Thompson and his wife. Aaron Polston was doing the music and set up the camera. Reggie Montgomery and Max Mayhem were in the crowd. And, later on LAW’s Tony Gunn and Kelly Warner stopped in. And, sitting right next to me was long time friend and former CCW photographer Emilo Lazardo. Guess what we were all there for?? You got it – “The Midnight Express” [Dennis Condrey/Bobby Eaton]!!!

----“Two Ton” Tony beat “Luscious” Leonard in the opening. Horrible bout. Just a bit of psychology, but both guys were bad. [DUD]

----“Big” Al Storm with Morgan Lane beat Farmer Tucker with a big boot. Tucker is not good, but Storm has some potential. Big guy that can move. James Arnez and he would make a good tag team. Storm has good facial expressions and seemed to try to have a match with Tucker, but Tucker was bad. [*] – just for Storm.

----Morgan Lane with Storm beat Brad Thomas [below with Brian Thompson] with a superkick. This was a good match. Thomas was trained by Ricky Morton and currently lives with Bobby Eaton. He also told me he hangs out with Jimmy Valiant. How can this kid go wrong?? Thomas also does this spot where he does the splits and pops up with a punch to the face all in one motion after he sends his opponent into the ropes. The first time I seen it, I thought it was sort of corny, but after seeing him do it live, it was impressive and something different. I like small guys, but Lane is real skinny small. Thomas is a small guy, but bulked up and at times I could not take Lane serious because of how thin he is. Lane is a little rough around the edges, but could be a good worker. Thomas has IT and I look for this kid to go somewhere. [**1/2]

----Austin Lane beat Acid in the best bout of the night. Lane turned it on and Acid, even though he was wearing tennis shoes and something that I actually wear around the house to sleep in, kept up and they had a very good match. Spots to the floor, a DDT spot when Acid caught Lane with Lane turning into a DDT that looked good and just the flow of the bout was good. Acid also caught Lane off the turnbuckle from a flying pressing turning it into a “blackhole slam”. Good psychology and Acid looked to as if he could beat Lane. Emilo and I nicknamed Acid – “Cracker Joe Murdoch”, because of his resemblance to a white Samoa Joe and Trevor Murdoch. [***]

----“The Midnight Express” [Bobby Eaton/Dennis Condrey] beat Southside Brawler with Pimptacular/Dusty Wolfe. Wolfe was announced as Doink the Clown at first, but then as Wolfe. The storyline of the match was that Brawler/Wolfe did not want to tag. Almost all Express getting moves and Wolfe/Brawler arguing. Funny thing was that Express worked heel with Wolfe getting the hot tag. Wolfe ended up punching Brawler also and sending him into Eaton/Condrey with them finishing him off with a “half-jack” [Eaton went down, Condrey did not..LOL]. Eaton/Condrey/Wolfe are all still good workers, but age does catch up with us all. The match was fun and those that came to see the Express got their money’s worth. [**]

ArenaNotes: There were about 70 people in the crowd. I figure there was around 57 paid with a gate close to $400…Storm came out to Psycho’s music. Emilo and I popped…Austin Lane and Thomas really stood out from this crowd of workers. They both looked, worked and acted like wrestlers. Acid, as much as I clowned around above about his name, would do good getting some boots and tights and doing the bad ass Samoa Joe gimmick. He didn’t look like a wrestler, but was just a slight step down from Lane/Thomas with some work and change of his look…It was also kewl to see Thomas do the job, because who is he helping by beating a local guy; right?? After the match, Storm/Lane jumped him, but he ran them off. The fans would not even remember that he got beat after that. BTW, the splits are over with me!!!...Acid put the “straight jacket” move on Lane – Psycho’s ghost was here!!...I am being bitchy here, but if I was a promoter again – if you did not have wrestling boots and gear, then you would not wrestle on my show. Lots of the guys wear the small amateur wrestling boots with kickpads and that is ok, but white New Balance just don’t get it…Southside Brawler has not improved since the last time I seen him and his manager was horrible…Eaton did a funny spot where he got the microphone stand that was ringside and said something into it and then hit Brawler with it. It got one of the best pops of the night from the “friends” of Eaton, because his gimmick has always been not talking. You could see Eaton was laughing and almost embarrassed from it. Good stuff…What is it about guys that were trained this era – Dusty Wolfe has some fantastic looking punches along with Eaton/Condrey. It’s ironic that guys now can do all those crazy spots, but could not throw a good punch to save their lives…No shows were the Hambones [because of the ring dispute], Lord Humongous, John Saxon, Atomic Dog and others. I was told that Huey and Saxon could not get Spence to guarantee them money, so they backed out…Farmer Tucker had been working for ACW. I don’t look for him to do anymore shows with them…I was also told that Spence gave away around 4000 tickets to the schools this past week. If that is so, then how did he only draw 70??...All the “names” did get paid what they were promised, but I bet some of the local guys didn’t make a dime.

RassleResults: NBW Dyersburg, TN 11.18.06

----“Risk Taker Division” Lil Tim Alfonzo vs Gaylon Ray vs The Kid vs Playboy Jamie Lee vs Slim " The Bulldog" Pickens vs Barney vs Tommyboy vs Phoenix X with Phoenix X going over; Jeremy Moore beat AW James with “Cash Flow’ ringside – AW hit Tank by mistake with a chain and Moore rolled him up; TANK defeated "East Coast Bad Boy" Sypro in 4:53 in the "Cashflow Triple 5 Challenge"; Lil' Tim Alfonzo defeated "Real Deal" Tim Edwards; Gaylon Ray and Phoenix X went to a double count-out with a pull apart at the end with all the "Risk Takers" and Main Event: "All That" Allen Steele defeated "East Coast Bad Boy" Serpant.

----Gate was $225 with a little over 60 people in attendance…In the Edwards vs Alfonzo match, the finish was that Lil' Tim hit a sunset flip on Edwards, James gave Edwards Big Money Gripp's Cane to hold onto but it slipped. Edwards got pinned causing Edwards/Tank to get mad at James on turn on him. Jeremy Moore came out for the save, but when he did Cashflow all jumped him for the setup. Edwards, James and Tank did their finishers on Moore…Serpent almost beat Tank when James hit Tank with a chain. Crowd were eating it up thinking Tank was going to lose. They have done good to build Tank…Shannon Lee and Gryffon X [Biscuit] no showed. Lee was pissed about the night before when Edwards gave him chops. He said he had a chest cold and didn’t need the chops. But, apparently didn’t tell anyone until after the match…Sir Mo [photo to the right with yours truly] having the books look for a bigger push of Alan Steele and that is not a bad thing if they can get him an opponent. Mo has had some success in Dyersburg as a booker. It will be interesting if he can pull it off again.

TGB out -- Sir MO in

----Big news coming out of Dyersburg, TN last night at NBW is that Sir Mo has replaced “The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony as booker of the promotion. I was told that TGB was feeling some heat from the workers and was ready to just give it up. Seth Knight then called Mo and let him know that he would not longer be working there either, so they do not have a champion. I have heard rumbles about TGB being replaced a few weeks back, but it is typical of promotions expecting much more than they should during such a small amount of time. Knight has been on ropes for a few weeks as I have been hearing that the crew was not happy with his drinking. I am going to try my best to get comment from both Knight/TGB by the end of the day.

Memphis Wrestling TV Report 11.18.06

----Show opened with “Too Cool 2” [Tim Grind/Flex] at the desk to announce the show. They say that Corey Maclin is not there – personal problems. They announce Southern Tag Team Tournament, because the belts have been vacated. Jerry Lawler comes out to say he is going to help them host the show. Lawler says that they are having a Battle Royal for the belts. [Not a tournament] He says he will sit at the desk to announce while Grind/Flex participates in the match.

----Short interviews with all the participates of Battle Royal – Grind/Flex; Kevin White/Dustin Starr; Fire/Flame; “Insane Clowns” [Bobo/Wiggles]; “The Posse” [‘Lil Chris/Simon Reed]; “Cowboys” [Ricky Murdoch/Bill Nasty]; “Picture Perfect”[Chris O’Neal/Jon Michael] – Cowboys were eliminated first with the last two teams being Grind/Flex vs Starr/White and White pinned Grind to win. The rules were if one of your team members hit the floor, then the whole team got eliminated. But, then White pinned Grind?? WTF??

----Grady Watson came out for an interview wanting to talk to Jethro. Jethro comes out and tells Watson that he should say goodbye to the old Jethro, because he is the new Jethro with Nate the Rat. No more Hillbilly. He threw down his hat – maybe they will give him something new to wear next week. Jethro vs Matt Foley. Watson joined Lawler during commentary. OMG!!! Almost a total squash. Foley started the comeback and Nate got on the ring apron. Foley hit Nate and then Jethro used a chain that Nate threw to him. Foley won by reverse decision. Why would Jethro [to the right]have to use a chain to pin Foley??

----“Opening the Vault” with Lance Russell – Jackie Fargo this week. Lawler vs Jackie Fargo. This was before the strap days. Great punches from both of these guys. They did a really great finish. Ref bump with Fargo knocking the ref down. Fargo then sent Lawler into the ropes with a double head butt. Fargo bumped and Lawler fell on top of Fargo and then the ref got up for the three count. The ref then raised Fargo as the winner, even though Lawler had pinned him. The crowd loved it!! Cory Maclin via video in Charlotte, North Carolina with Jackie Fargo interview. I think Fargo might have been drinking. Maclin told Fargo he loved him. They both might have been drinking. Fargo did the Fargo strut for Cory.

----Derrick King with Reggie B Fine interview as King asks Fine to be in his corner. Fine was hilarious. He calls Lawler “low budget” and says he would “whoop his own mother” for money. Lawler was cracking up. JR Title Match: King beat Tatt2 when Fine shoved Tatt2 off the top rope. They have had better bouts vs each other, but a good match. One spot had King duck under a dropkick – can’t remember ever seeing that?? Tatt2 did the “619” and Lawler called it that!! Maclin always calls it a “biiiiiggg mooooooovvee”!!!

----Flash Flanagan interview – “Do you still have what it takes!!” to Lawler. Awesome interview. Lawler beat Flash by DQ when Flex/Grind jumped in. Good match with Flash putting Lawler in a full nelson and Flex/Grind calling it the “Flash-lock”. Lawler got out of it with mule kick to Flash’s groin and then pulled down the strap. He did the fist drop and then Flex/Grind jumped in – White/Starr & PP made the save.

----Lawler interview with Starr/White challenging Flash/Grind/Flex in a 6-man tag. White also said White/Starr [photo below] will put their titles on the line for the match.

RassleNotes: Brickhouse Brown seems to have left, because they vacated the tag belts…”Too Cool 2” saying “What’s up dawg?’ to Lawler cracked me up!!...Lawler actually said Fire/Flame were the first ones out of the battle royal, but it was Cowboys…Watson was horrible on the mic with Lawler…Foley is probably the worse worker of the crew right now…That Fargo/Maclin segment was unintentionally a very funny piece. “Opening the Vault” this week was a 12 minute segment…King was wearing a shirt that said “You are looking at a Legend” on it. I think he has worn it the last three weeks and I have just forgotten to mention it…Lawler put King over in the match. Lawler kept laughing at Fine. I usually don’t like Fine, but he was funny with DK…Grind/Flex did commentary during Flash vs Lawler bout. And, they also made fun of Maclin saying “big move”..LOL…Not a great show, but not a horrible one either. This was right in the middle and I will give it the nod to it being the 8^th show in a row worth watching. They also kept the storylines going and will further them next week, which I like.