Airdate December 8, 2007
Taped November 16, 2007 at the SAW Arena in Millersville, Tn
Opening with last week’s highlights from the first round of the Television Title Tournament: Arrick Andrews upset Jerry Lynn with a victory roll…A. M. Vision stole one from Damian Adams with a fistful of tights…Nore Havoc pinned Lennox Lightfoot with an RKO after distraction by Paul Adams…Hammerjack got counted out against Mason Raige when “Boogie Woogie Boy” Gary Valiant attacked Hammerjack’s manager, Charming Charles. Charles had been talking trash about Boogie’s funky old lady and how his kids all looked like rats. Valiant (head still bandaged from a previous beating) and Hammerjack started trading ala Frye/Takayama. “They’re going crazy out here!” Cut to a Valiant interview at the desk. Hammerjack clocked him from the blind side and wasted him with a piledriver on the floor.
Cut to Jack Johnson and Hot Rod Biggs at ringside. They introduced the Hammerjack/Valiant clip that just aired. Oops.
Mike Sircy from the SAW Board of Directors came out to address the situation between the Boogie Woogie Boy and Hammerjack. This was classic stuff. Sircy said he had just two words. “I can’t believe this.” Biggs pointed out the obvious, but only after Sircy had ploughed ahead. For the sake of his health (or whatever is left of it), Valiant could not return to television until he was medically cleared. Johnson agreed with the BOD’s decision. “It’s a sound judgment, a man laying on the ground with a concussion, getting pummeled and beaten right in the head.” Sircy then suspended Hammerjack and Charles until further notice for using the banned piledriver. Charles and Hammerjack interrupted. Charles read from the “Tennessee Bylaw Wrestling Book.” It only referred to piledrivers inside the ring. It didn’t say nothing about piledrivers 25 feet away. Charles was waving a whole bunch of rulebooks, even one from “CML.” Charles said he had consulted with lawyer and the SAW BOD didn’t have a leg to stand on. Sircy said he would have to consult with the SAW legal department and promised a decision before the end of the show. Charles wouldn’t let it go. He told Johnson to read for himself. Johnson begged off because he didn’t have his glasses on.
(1) Nore Havoc (with Paul Adams) beat Mason Raige in 6:02 to advance to the championship match of the TV Title Tournament. At the opening bell they cut to prematch promos. Raige said he had already beaten Havoc, but the gold wasn’t one the line. “Nore Havoc, you can’t cage the Raige.” Adams said Raige was the first member of his family to walk upright. Havoc called Raige a Troglodyte.
Havoc slammed the 260 pounder. Raige returned the favor with a press slam and Havoc took a TO. Raige displayed an impressive dropkick for a man his size, but two high knees proved to be one to many against a wily veteran. Havoc worked over the knee. Sold well by Raige. The knee gave out on a bodyslam attempt. Havoc kept applying a sleeper, but Raige countered with jaw breakers and broke it for good with a back suplex. Johnson questioned Havoc’s strategy. Just when it appeared that Raige had Havoc’s number. Nore pulled off a slick escape and rolled Raige up using the trunks. Biggs bragged about having Havoc as his pick to go all the way.
(2) Rick Santel pinned “The Graduate” Jason James with the Rick Kick at 2:40. James said Santel was no genius in the classroom. “You don’t have to be the leanest, the meanest, the roughest or the toughest. You just have to be the smartest, and that’s me.” Santel also cut a promo. Not good. The commentary touched on Santel’s successful 1 and ½ year comeback from shoulder surgery. Johnson said he looked the same as five years ago. James showed that he had an advanced degree in raking the eyes. James worked on Santel’s back. Biggs said James was trying to undo the surgeon’s work. Santel outpunched James to start a full-fledged comeback. His flying forearm failed to connect. But Santel hit a great looking variation of the exploder suplex and pinned James with the tornado kick.
Interview segment with Homicidal Tendencies (Kory Wiliams & Vic the Bruiser). Williams made fun of Lennox Lightfoot’s Indian heritage. Williams claimed to be a member of the Slap-a-hoe tribe, known by squaws across the plains as “Chief Bootknocka.”
Boys, lace up those pretty little moccasins. Smoke ‘em your peace pipe. Get all your Pocaheinies. Cuz (with) Hot Chocolate and Vic, you don’t stand a chance.
(3) Vic the Bruiser (with Kory Williams) beat Lennox Lightfoot in 7:30. Biggs brought up how a decade ago, Valiant had broken Hammerjack’s jaw in his second pro match. Williams horned in on the commentary. He referred to Lightfoot as “Littlefoots” and wanted to know what kind of Indian reservation they had in Lightfoot’s hometown of Little Rock, Ar? Meanwhile, Bruiser mauled Lightfoot. The dude has the biggest black ass in Tennessee wrestling since Mo. Sircy made the painful announcement that Hammerjack was unsuspended. According to the rulebook, the BOD’s hands were tied. “How about that? It’s one of those legal things, Hot Rod Biggs. You know how those are,” said Johnson. When Lightfoot came back with a series of three dropkicks, Williams made his way to ringside and nonchalantly tripped up Lightfoot as he went for the Four Winds Tomahawk Chop. Bruiser continued to pound Lightfoot in the postmatch. Johnson called for mercy. Williams said mercy was for the weak of heart.
Williams gloated about Suicidal Tendencies holding two sets of tag titles: SAW and NWA Top Rope. Williams wanted to know what happened to all the tag team competition. Williams said Homicidal Tendencies were the best tag team in the world, the crème del a crème. Johnson tried to get a word in, but Williams said he wasn’t done talking. Bruiser said when they wanted to hear from chrome dome, they would pull his string.
“Hot Chocolate” Kory Wiliams, Vic the Bruiser, Homicidal Tendencies. And don’t worry. We will tell your parents that you did suffer.
A video package featuring Krull aired next. The gimmick is an indietastic superhero, a babyface monster like Abyss minus the self-mutilation fetish.
(4) “The Dragon” Aarick Andrews beat “The Cardiovascular Massacre” A. M. Vision in 9:30 to advance to the championship match of the TV Title Tournament. Nice chain wrestling to open. It was Andrews, the babyface, surprisingly being the one to initiate the rough stuff. Andrews busted out a ropes walk huracanrana, used a headscissors to snap Vision’s head into the middle turnbuckle, and hit a release german suplex for a near fall. Vision caught Andrews with a hotshot. As Vision continued to work on Andrews’ neck, Johnson refused to play favorites. He said people threw brick at their TVs back in the 80s when Howard Cosell did that. Andrews turned the momentum with a spin-around bulldog. Andrews went for the Dragon Kick but Vision mistimed the bump. Andrews came right back with a spinning heel kick for a near fall. Vision applied a dragon sleeper. Johnson noted the irony of Vision using Andrews’ submission. Andrews refused to succumb and reversed with an inverted DDT. Cut to Andrews rolling out of the ring after winning the match. Huh? The replay showed Vision going for the Infamy (corner splash into a DDT) and Andrews countering with a bridging northern lights suplex for the three count.
At the desk, Andrews said he had unfinished business after having his head shaved at the hands of Havoc. Adams came out with Havoc. Adams said they did what they did because they wanted to prove they could do whatever, including “shaving the hair on that fat woman’s back.” Adams said Havoc was the top of the food chain. Havoc said he shaved Andrews’ head to make him grow up and become a man. "We run this and you will learn that, little man.” Andrews reminded Havoc that he was the first ever SAW Television Champion and he would do it again.
Things got heated between Andrews and Havoc. Finger pointing and trash talking ensued. The ref stepped in. Johnson said to save it for next week. They were shoving each other as the show went off the air.
Closing Thoughts: The talking and tongue-in-cheek humor give this show that warm and fuzzy Memphis feel and make it a joy to watch. The segment with Mike Sircy and Charming Charles was awesome on the mic. Charles is way more believable then some punk kid playing at being a wrestling manager. The inring was generally OK enough to get the stories across. Good main event. Vision/Andrews are the best SAW has when it comes to an athletic, technical match, but I got the impression they are capable of better than what they showed here. Vision’ moniker fits. He’s built more along the lines of a triathlete than a pro wrestler. I like the way they booked the TV Title tournament to set up future storylines along the way, and a strong closing segment to build up the title match. Highlighting the back story between Valiant and Hammerjack was a nice touch. The uneven production quality leaves something to be desired. Besides the two obvious editing gaffes, the jump cuts from the hard cam to the other cameras are frequently jarringly unsmooth.
