----Week ending 5.30.08, here were the hot topics on RRO.
--TLCW Arena Report.
--"Picture of the Week" posted on Tuesday!!
--Seth Knight, Tim Edwards and Crazy Train return to NBW!!
--New Memphis Wrestling History book is released!!
--"What Memphis Watches" 5.28.08.
--"Flashback" 5.19.82
--"Shooting the Shiznit" with Jimmy Valiant, Scott Bowden and Mark James.
--NGW promoter responds to Corrente.
--Gene Jackson returns with "Cheap Heat Radio" with guests Ollie Bradford, Brian Tramel and JD McKay.
--"Big Cheese" with "A Piece of My Mind".
--"Fabulous One" Stan Lane sends a letter to RRO.
----"In Case You Missed It" is a new weekly feature posted Saturday afternoons on RRO. It will give you a review of the past week by just clicking the link. Inspired by one of my favorite VH1 TV shows - "Best Week Ever".
Saturday, May 31, 2008
RassleResults: USWO Nashville, TN 5.30.08
Advance Financial sponsored the show tonight, which was to celebrate USWO's third anniversary at the Stadium Inn
Justin Spade b Dyronic and Intern in a 3-way when Spade pinned Intern
New York Gangster b Chris Norte
Cousin Jason X b Shane Smalls
TJ Harley b Seven (w/Charming Charles) to win the vacant ATL Championship
Cowboy Bud Ellis b Tim Renesto (w/Charming Charles) by DQ when Charles hit Ellis with a cane as he had Renesto in a figure four.
Mark Anthony (w/Charming Charles) b Chris Michaels to win the USWO Championship.
Damien Payne & LT Falk b Quinton Quarisma & JC Crowe to win the USWO Tag Team Championship by getting double pins.
----Attendance-60 (lowest turnout for Friday in 18 months.)
Credit: Jimmie Daniel
Justin Spade b Dyronic and Intern in a 3-way when Spade pinned Intern
New York Gangster b Chris Norte
Cousin Jason X b Shane Smalls
TJ Harley b Seven (w/Charming Charles) to win the vacant ATL Championship
Cowboy Bud Ellis b Tim Renesto (w/Charming Charles) by DQ when Charles hit Ellis with a cane as he had Renesto in a figure four.
Mark Anthony (w/Charming Charles) b Chris Michaels to win the USWO Championship.
Damien Payne & LT Falk b Quinton Quarisma & JC Crowe to win the USWO Tag Team Championship by getting double pins.
----Attendance-60 (lowest turnout for Friday in 18 months.)
Credit: Jimmie Daniel
RassleResults: LAW Rector, AR 5.30.08 - New Tag Champs & FIRE!!!
Tommy Redneck over Pierre Abernathy
Chris Rocker over Johnny Vinyl
“Trailer Park Trash” [Cody Murdock/Al Smith] over “The Asylum” [Pappy/Psycho] to win LAW Tag Titles
Idol Bane over Brandon Espinosa in 2/3 Falls
"The Golden Boy" Greg Anthony over Flash Flanagan in Hardcore Match to retain LAW Championship
Redneck won with a sunset pin out of the corner. Pierre attacked him after the match.
Vinyl pinned Rocker with his feet on the ropes but Jeff O'Dell came out and restarted the match allowing Rocker to win with The O'Connor Roll.
Psycho was handcuffed by Trailer Park Trash which allowed them to double team Pappy with The Double Chokeslam for the win. After the match they gave him another Double Chokeslam and then 300 plus pound Cody Murdock gave Pappy a second rope splash.
Idol Bane won the first fall. Espinosa won the second fall. Then Idol won the third and final fall with a roll up and pulling the tights. After the match Idol jumped Espy and was going to give him "The Ghost of Andy Kauffman" but when he got him up Derrick King came and superkicked Idol while he still had Espy up.
In the Main Event, It was revealed that Jeff O'Dell was the ref for this match. Flash hit cross body to the outside, a triple jump plancha to the outside and even a leg lariat in the corner with the assistance of a steel chair. Finish came when Flash hit the springboard leg drop and Jeff dropped down 1...2... and then refused to count the 3!! Flash grabbed Jeff O'Dell for the pile driver but out of no where TGB burned Flash with THE FIREBALL!!! Then made the cover for the 1, 2, 3.
----50-60 in the crowd.
Chris Rocker over Johnny Vinyl
“Trailer Park Trash” [Cody Murdock/Al Smith] over “The Asylum” [Pappy/Psycho] to win LAW Tag Titles
Idol Bane over Brandon Espinosa in 2/3 Falls
"The Golden Boy" Greg Anthony over Flash Flanagan in Hardcore Match to retain LAW Championship
Redneck won with a sunset pin out of the corner. Pierre attacked him after the match.
Vinyl pinned Rocker with his feet on the ropes but Jeff O'Dell came out and restarted the match allowing Rocker to win with The O'Connor Roll.
Psycho was handcuffed by Trailer Park Trash which allowed them to double team Pappy with The Double Chokeslam for the win. After the match they gave him another Double Chokeslam and then 300 plus pound Cody Murdock gave Pappy a second rope splash.
Idol Bane won the first fall. Espinosa won the second fall. Then Idol won the third and final fall with a roll up and pulling the tights. After the match Idol jumped Espy and was going to give him "The Ghost of Andy Kauffman" but when he got him up Derrick King came and superkicked Idol while he still had Espy up.
In the Main Event, It was revealed that Jeff O'Dell was the ref for this match. Flash hit cross body to the outside, a triple jump plancha to the outside and even a leg lariat in the corner with the assistance of a steel chair. Finish came when Flash hit the springboard leg drop and Jeff dropped down 1...2... and then refused to count the 3!! Flash grabbed Jeff O'Dell for the pile driver but out of no where TGB burned Flash with THE FIREBALL!!! Then made the cover for the 1, 2, 3.
----50-60 in the crowd.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Stan Lane Sends In A Letter To RRO!!
----Stan Lane, wrestling legend as part of the "Fabulous Ones" and the "Midnight Express" teams, sent the following just a few moments ago. He was upset at the stuff that Larry Goodman reported here and various other places. I thought the best thing to do was just post the letter.
Brian,
Sal gave me your email address. I want to set the record straight on this promoter guy from South Carolina. First of all, anyone who knows me is aware that I retired from in ring work years ago. The last show I worked was for Sal and only because hes my friend and I was compensated handsomely. This Holder guy called my cell phone twice and left messages wanting me to work some shows for him. I NEVER even returned his calls. We never spoke! Him saying otherwise is a blatant lie. When I was made aware he was advertising me I asked Sal to handle it because I'm completely out of the loop and don't need the aggravation. Holder told Sal he would remove my name, but in fact only took me off the Friday show advertising, not Saturday, on the Gateway website. Sal said Holder really wanted me to work his show that weekend and would pay me $500 per night in advance if I would. I declined immediately, not only because I'm retired, but because I wouldn't work for someone who falsely advertised me in the first place. Please make this statement known to your readers. I appreciate your help.
Stan Lane
A Piece of my Mind May 30th 2008 by "The Big Cheese" Sal Corrente
I am amazed sometimes at the booking on independent shows. In the last week I have heard that someone, who in the last year was a WWE performer on RAW, that was brought in for two different events and was asked to put someone over who has no major exposure. It has been my experience that the casual fan, who is in a secondary market looking to come to an Indy show, responds when they see people they consider TV stars. I do not understand the logic of bringing in a “star” to be jobbed out to someone who more than likely will get nowhere in this business. If you want to bring the star in for numerous events and you are trying to run some program than obviously “business” can and should be done as needed.
In the Indy circuit it is tough to run programs and angles and make money without TV. I have seen it done before. I was lucky enough to be a part of it in Lenoir, NC. The promoter for those shows was a guy named Tony Hunter who was running CCW Carolina Championship Wrestling. He had the best Indy shows going month after month in two thousand and three and two thousand and four. He started with Ricky Morton and Greg Valentine his first show had about four hundred people. He built things up to an eventual cage match with those two guys that was guest referred by Tully Blanchard. The show was close to a sellout. The following year he had full houses all the time and the fire marshal threatening to shut him down. This was all done with a small advertising budget and NO TV.
I can remember being in the ring in my role as commissioner setting up a return match with the Rock and Roll Express vs. the Condrey and Eaton version of The Midnight Express. I was set to announce a Texas Tornado Match. The people were screaming for a cage like nothing I have heard in a long time on an Indy show. I wasn’t sure what to do and Robert Gibson looked at me and said "what’s wrong"? I said they want a cage and he asked me what the return was and I said a Texas Tornado match. I actually called the promoter from the ring on my cell and told him what was happening. I was really afraid we would kill the town but I had to be sure we could get a cage. I got Tony Hunter on the phone and he said to run with it so I called for the Steel Cage and the place came unglued. I was a baby face commissioner for this company.
The shows got better and better but Tony Hunter became a victim of his own success and tried to grow beyond his means. It was a shame to see all that hard work go down the tubes in one night. He got to where he was by giving the fans what they expected and wanted to see. He didn’t ask stars and legends to come in and be jobbed out to local talent. He used local talent as they should be used. He didn’t try to push too many (non TV stars) down people’s throats. He lost it all with a big house and a great card but very poor business decisions.
You will find that people are looking for stars to do what they do on television. In the case of the young man who was asked to put over guys that haven’t yet made it to the big time. It would have been nice to see Chris Masters work with some competent person who put him over with the full nelson. All these promoters have done is book a star and remove his credibility. I have not been a huge fan of Chris Masters, but I can tell you this, after the two reports that I got about him this past week, I would be happy to use him on a future event if I ever promote again.
I was going to end this week’s article here but I have to comment on the recent remarks made by Jim Ross regarding Corey Maclin settling his lawsuit with the WWE. I could not believe that someone as intelligent and as well spoken as Jim Ross could have made such comments. He indicated in his blog that Vince McMahon settled the lawsuit because it was frivolous and had no basis just to get rid of the lawsuit.
I can tell you for one, the lawsuit was in no way frivolous. I was involved in this event beginning to end. Believe me Corey Maclin had a case and a strong one at that. If WWE had done what Jim Ross suggested and settled because they thought the lawsuit was a joke, why in the world would a well respected employee of the company make a statement which would encourage every slow leak in the world to sue WWE to get an easy pay off.
I do not know what Corey received from WWE, but in my humble opinion, he was entitled to whatever the difference was between the money brought in at the gate and what a sellout would have been. I find it interesting that Ross indicated that the show wouldn’t have done great if not sell out business. You have the King of Memphis Jerry Lawler and the Immortal Hulk Hogan. They had all the footage they needed and proper promotion along with sponsors. The whole community was totally behind this event. I personally was thrilled to be booked on the show to see Lawler vs. Hogan. I think that this was an opportunity to come out one more time for their long time hero Jerry Lawler.
I didn’t understand the remarks that Ross made about Lawler also thinking the lawsuit was ridiculous. What would you expect Lawler to say? The whole incident was his fault. He put both his partner and his company in very poor positions. He lost a chance to make a lot of money personally on this event since he was self promoting it. If you were Jerry Lawler, the lawsuit was a no win situation for you. All of this trouble was caused for one reason and one reason only because Jerry Lawler felt it was better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
I have dealt with Lawler enough to understand his comments. But I was shocked by Jim Ross. This is a case of backing your friend blindly and with little to no facts. I was told when this suit was first filed that I was out of my mind and that Corey would not get a dime. I believe those comments were made by people with little or no facts. I can also tell you that suits like this one do not get settled this quickly for no reason. The idea that Vince McMahon would back down from anyone and not defend his company from someone trying to sue it with no basis is absurd at best. You will never see Vince McMahon not protect his company and his brand with every breath he has in him. I won’t get into anymore specifics other than to say that WWE knew what they were up against and settled and got out.
The picture from this week’s article is of Bruno Sammartino along with Lour Ferrigno and Marty Lazzaro a very close and personal friend of Bruno Sammartino. It was taken during a trip to the West Coast within the last few years
This has been a piece of my mind
Check out last night's Cheap Heat Radio w/Ollie Bradford
Listen to last night's return of Cheap Heat Radio as I was joined by WrestlingNewsCenter's Ollie "By Golly" Bradford (and later "Outlaw" J.D. McKay & Coach BT) It was a fun show as there was lot of discussion of the "Website Wars" between RRO and HollywoodNewscenter. We also talked about the "lovefest" on Shootin' the Shiznit with Hollywood Jimmy and Coach BT. Other topics included in no particular order: Will Chris Benoit ever make the Hall of Fame, Ollie's issues with the late Kerry Von Erich, levels of sin???, Ric Flair's retirement and why the old timers can wrestle into their 60's but the young guys spend most of their time on the shelf injured, Is Ric Flair made of rubber?, my upcoming booking at the CWA Reunion Show, Was Jesus black?, J.D. McKay doing the J-O-B for 87 year old Porkchop Cash, Where have all the jobbers gone, the guest that wouldn't leave (well hang up), and more! Listen to it, what else do you have to do right now? Then go comment on it on the kayfabe board.
NGW Promoter Responds to Corrente
I spoke with Matt Holder, the promoter of New Generation Wrestling, regarding allegations made by Sal Corrente that he false advertised Stan Lane and Jimmy Hart for his legends show on May 23 in Liberty, SC.
His version of the events is considerably different that what Sal Corrente represented on his story on the Rasslin Riot website.
Holder stated that he made deals directly with both Hart and Lane to appear for NGW - Hart for May 23 only and Lane for May 23 and May 24 in Anderson, SC. Holder said he was contacted by Sal Corrente on May 20. At that point, Corrente represented himself as being in an agent role for Hart and Lane. Since he already had deals in place with Hart and Lane, Holder told Corrente it was the first he had heard that either of them had an agent. Corrente indicated he was looking out for their best interests. Corrente informed Holder that Lane did not want to work smaller shows and proceeded to suggest a money deal for Lane's appearance. Holder told Corrente that he already had a deal with Lane, which was actually for more money than Corrente was suggesting. After several conversations with Corrente, it was agreed that Lane would not be appearing on the NGW shows. Holder stated is attempts to contact Lane directly to discuss the matter were unsuccessful.
Holder stated that the posting for the show on the The Mid-Atlantic Gateway was then changed to reflect that Lane would not be appearing.
Holder said he had several conversations with Hart about the booking in Liberty, and told Corrente he already had a deal in place with Hart. Holder said Jimmy Hart had every intention of appearing in Liberty, until WWE made a late decision to book him to be at Florida Championship Wrestling on May 22 and May 23, which made it impossible fo him to make the show.
Holder pointed out that Liberty was his hometown, so the last thing he would want to get involved in would be false advertising. He stated that money played no role in Hart and Lane not being there. Holder said he had booked numerous name wrestlers since he started running shows under the NGW name in 2001, and has never had any money issues with talent.
His version of the events is considerably different that what Sal Corrente represented on his story on the Rasslin Riot website.
Holder stated that he made deals directly with both Hart and Lane to appear for NGW - Hart for May 23 only and Lane for May 23 and May 24 in Anderson, SC. Holder said he was contacted by Sal Corrente on May 20. At that point, Corrente represented himself as being in an agent role for Hart and Lane. Since he already had deals in place with Hart and Lane, Holder told Corrente it was the first he had heard that either of them had an agent. Corrente indicated he was looking out for their best interests. Corrente informed Holder that Lane did not want to work smaller shows and proceeded to suggest a money deal for Lane's appearance. Holder told Corrente that he already had a deal with Lane, which was actually for more money than Corrente was suggesting. After several conversations with Corrente, it was agreed that Lane would not be appearing on the NGW shows. Holder stated is attempts to contact Lane directly to discuss the matter were unsuccessful.
Holder stated that the posting for the show on the The Mid-Atlantic Gateway was then changed to reflect that Lane would not be appearing.
Holder said he had several conversations with Hart about the booking in Liberty, and told Corrente he already had a deal in place with Hart. Holder said Jimmy Hart had every intention of appearing in Liberty, until WWE made a late decision to book him to be at Florida Championship Wrestling on May 22 and May 23, which made it impossible fo him to make the show.
Holder pointed out that Liberty was his hometown, so the last thing he would want to get involved in would be false advertising. He stated that money played no role in Hart and Lane not being there. Holder said he had booked numerous name wrestlers since he started running shows under the NGW name in 2001, and has never had any money issues with talent.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
RassleResults: TFW Tupelo, MS 5.23.08
Chop defeated David Cox.
.
G-Mo Money defeated Chris Chaos.
.
DC -vs- Josh Matthews: DC came out with a injured leg and said that he had a replacement for himself in this match and calls out Izzy. Josh wins by DQ due to DC getting caught cheating. Parental Advisory defeated Chris Styles & Jarvis White (Cameron comes out and distracts Chris, Chris leaves the ring and chases him out the front door, leaving Jarvis alone with PA).
.
Light Heavyweight title match: Curly Mo defeated Cassanova Kid, Kid J, Lil' Devil, LSD, & Ryan SoFine.
.
Chris Kilgore defeated Brett Michaels.
.
Neil taylor defeated Cameron Valentine (Chris Styles comes out and distacts Cameron, Neil rolls Cameron up in a schoolboy for the win).
.
Thanks to Denise Blaylock for sending these results in.
Credit: www.wrestlingnewscenter.com
.
G-Mo Money defeated Chris Chaos.
.
DC -vs- Josh Matthews: DC came out with a injured leg and said that he had a replacement for himself in this match and calls out Izzy. Josh wins by DQ due to DC getting caught cheating. Parental Advisory defeated Chris Styles & Jarvis White (Cameron comes out and distracts Chris, Chris leaves the ring and chases him out the front door, leaving Jarvis alone with PA).
.
Light Heavyweight title match: Curly Mo defeated Cassanova Kid, Kid J, Lil' Devil, LSD, & Ryan SoFine.
.
Chris Kilgore defeated Brett Michaels.
.
Neil taylor defeated Cameron Valentine (Chris Styles comes out and distacts Cameron, Neil rolls Cameron up in a schoolboy for the win).
.
Thanks to Denise Blaylock for sending these results in.
Credit: www.wrestlingnewscenter.com
"Shooting the Shiznit" Is Ready!!
----Join host Brian Tramel with co-host Brian Thompson as they spend the hour talking about Mark James' new book - "Memphis Wrestling History - Vol 2: The Programs 1972-1976". They are joined by Mark James, "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant and Scott Bowden in an action packed hour talking about Memphis Wrestling history. Download it from www.rroradio.com or listen to it here in this post!!
----Announced in the last 5 minutes of the show was the special guest for next week - LACEY VON ERICH!!!
Time change for Cheap Heat Radio!! 11pm tonight!
Due to a glitch with BlogTalkRadio I had to reschedule tonight's show. There were no more spots open for 10pm so the show will instead run from 11pm-12am. Sorry about the change. Stay up late and call in: (347) 838-8101. Hopefully we'll still be joined by Olly Bradford and perhaps others.
Shows for The Weekend 5.30 to 5.31.08
----It looks like it is just the normal batch of shows for this weekend and only one "extra". I want to pick it as the "Show" to go to, because it is for a real good cause and they usually have a good crowd for this show every year. CLICK HERE for the regular lineup of 14 shows in the area!!
----Saturday night - “Relay for Life” Benefit Show in Manila, AR run by Ron Horn with “The Aslyum” [Psycho/Pappy] Neil Taylor, Chris Rocker, Jamie Jay, Johnny Morton and more.
----Saturday night - “Relay for Life” Benefit Show in Manila, AR run by Ron Horn with “The Aslyum” [Psycho/Pappy] Neil Taylor, Chris Rocker, Jamie Jay, Johnny Morton and more.
RassleResults: LAW 5.23.08 - "Trailer Park Trash" Debuts!!
Brandon Espinosa over Evan Galistico
Pierre Abernathy over Tommy Redneck
“Trailer Park Trash”(Cody Murdoch & Big Al) over Pappy in a Handicap Match
Idol Bane over Tony Gunn w/ Derrick King as Special Guest Ref
Flash Flanagan & Dell Tucker over "The Golden Boy" Greg Anthony & Johnny Vinyl
Show started with "Welcome Home Tony Gunn" but was interrupted by Idol Bane. Who told Tony that he was the bull of the woods in Rector now! Jeff O'Dell came out and told Idol that he was trying to find him to inform him that next week he would be going 2/3 falls with Brandon Espinosa. And since he was out here talking trash that tonight in would be Tony Gunn vs Idol Bane! Idol asked Tony "Do you believe in ghosts? Because I promise tonight you'll see The Ghost of Andy Kaufmann!"
Tony “Coco” Anderson interviewed Sgt. Savage about the extent of his injury at the hands of Pierre Abernathy. He said he still wasn't medically cleared but as soon as he was he would be back in action. Pierre comes out and says he is a weak American and that if he was European he would be healed in two days. Tommy Redneck comes out and says Sgt. Savage isn't cleared but he loves America just as much and he'll take on Pierre right now with Sgt.Savage in his corner. Finish came when Pierre got knocked to the floor and then he slapped Sgt.Savage. Savage tried to get into the ring after him but the ref and Redneck stopped him but Pierre kicked Redneck between the legs and pinned him 1,2,3. After the match Savage was checking on Redneck and Pierre jumped him from behind and gave him "The Mic Check" on a seated chair injury Sgt.Savage's throat even more.
Cody Murdoch and Big Al came to the ring and introduced themselves to the crowd. They said that were cousins and had grown up together their whole life. They are here to prove that they are the best tag team around.. and then Cody said "Because I'm the leader"... Big Al grabbed the mic and said he was the leader and then they argued back and forth pushing each other when The Asylum's music hit but only Pappy walked out. Tony asked Pappy where Psycho was but Pappy motioned for a two on one handicap match. Cody and Big Al are calling themselves “Trailer Park Trash”. TPT won via pinfall when Big Al hit Pappy with his own Horse on a chain and then they gave him a double chokeslam.
Tony told Idol he had a special surprise for him that someone he knew was actually going to ref this match. Derrick King's music hit. Idol pushed DK and when DK went to superkick Idol he moved and nailed Tony Gunn!!! Idol made the cover but Tony was able to kick out at 2 7/8. Idol frustrated went for chair but DK took it away from him and then Tony took the chair away from DK and was going to hit Idol but DK took the chair back away from Tony. As DK was putting the chair up, it allowed Idol Bane to hit Tony from behind and nail The Ghost of Andy Kaufman. Derrick had no choice but to count to three! After the match, Idol was gloating and DK superkicked him.
In the main event, Tucker pinned Johnny Vinyl after The Tucker-Plex. TGB high kneed Flash to the floor and gave Tucker “The Golden Guillotine” on a chair. Flash made the save and Jeff O'Dell came out and made TGB vs Flash for the title next week. But then Flash asked for a Hardcore Match and Jeff agreed.
----60 in the crowd. I hate that because it sounded like a real good show!!...This Friday - 2/3 Falls Idol Bane vs Brandon Espinosa and TGB vs Flash in Hardcore LAW Title Match!
Pierre Abernathy over Tommy Redneck
“Trailer Park Trash”(Cody Murdoch & Big Al) over Pappy in a Handicap Match
Idol Bane over Tony Gunn w/ Derrick King as Special Guest Ref
Flash Flanagan & Dell Tucker over "The Golden Boy" Greg Anthony & Johnny Vinyl
Show started with "Welcome Home Tony Gunn" but was interrupted by Idol Bane. Who told Tony that he was the bull of the woods in Rector now! Jeff O'Dell came out and told Idol that he was trying to find him to inform him that next week he would be going 2/3 falls with Brandon Espinosa. And since he was out here talking trash that tonight in would be Tony Gunn vs Idol Bane! Idol asked Tony "Do you believe in ghosts? Because I promise tonight you'll see The Ghost of Andy Kaufmann!"
Tony “Coco” Anderson interviewed Sgt. Savage about the extent of his injury at the hands of Pierre Abernathy. He said he still wasn't medically cleared but as soon as he was he would be back in action. Pierre comes out and says he is a weak American and that if he was European he would be healed in two days. Tommy Redneck comes out and says Sgt. Savage isn't cleared but he loves America just as much and he'll take on Pierre right now with Sgt.Savage in his corner. Finish came when Pierre got knocked to the floor and then he slapped Sgt.Savage. Savage tried to get into the ring after him but the ref and Redneck stopped him but Pierre kicked Redneck between the legs and pinned him 1,2,3. After the match Savage was checking on Redneck and Pierre jumped him from behind and gave him "The Mic Check" on a seated chair injury Sgt.Savage's throat even more.
Cody Murdoch and Big Al came to the ring and introduced themselves to the crowd. They said that were cousins and had grown up together their whole life. They are here to prove that they are the best tag team around.. and then Cody said "Because I'm the leader"... Big Al grabbed the mic and said he was the leader and then they argued back and forth pushing each other when The Asylum's music hit but only Pappy walked out. Tony asked Pappy where Psycho was but Pappy motioned for a two on one handicap match. Cody and Big Al are calling themselves “Trailer Park Trash”. TPT won via pinfall when Big Al hit Pappy with his own Horse on a chain and then they gave him a double chokeslam.
Tony told Idol he had a special surprise for him that someone he knew was actually going to ref this match. Derrick King's music hit. Idol pushed DK and when DK went to superkick Idol he moved and nailed Tony Gunn!!! Idol made the cover but Tony was able to kick out at 2 7/8. Idol frustrated went for chair but DK took it away from him and then Tony took the chair away from DK and was going to hit Idol but DK took the chair back away from Tony. As DK was putting the chair up, it allowed Idol Bane to hit Tony from behind and nail The Ghost of Andy Kaufman. Derrick had no choice but to count to three! After the match, Idol was gloating and DK superkicked him.
In the main event, Tucker pinned Johnny Vinyl after The Tucker-Plex. TGB high kneed Flash to the floor and gave Tucker “The Golden Guillotine” on a chair. Flash made the save and Jeff O'Dell came out and made TGB vs Flash for the title next week. But then Flash asked for a Hardcore Match and Jeff agreed.
----60 in the crowd. I hate that because it sounded like a real good show!!...This Friday - 2/3 Falls Idol Bane vs Brandon Espinosa and TGB vs Flash in Hardcore LAW Title Match!
Showtime Allstar Wrestling - Episode 45
- Showtime Allstar Wrestling – Episode 45
Airing May 17, 2008 on ION Network affiliate WNPX 28 in Nashville
Michael St. John and Reno Riggins did the opening at ringside. This week: the return of a rededicated T. J. Harley, Sean Casey and the lovely Tiana, bad attitude - great eye candy, and Drew Haskins vs. Rick Santel. St. John mentioned that Riggins had a hand in training Haskins. Riggins said he strongly advised Haskins against taking the match. And SAW start NOW!
(1) Sean Casey (with Tiana) beat Larry Cooter in 4:06. Casey was clowning early. Tiana was in no hurry getting out of the ring after Kurt Herron called for the bell. The better to give male viewers a chance to ogle that sweet ass. Casey went out to get some TLC from Tiana, and Cooter brought Casey back in the hard way. Cooter did less than zero, until Casey reversed with a swinging neckbreaker. Judging by the colors of Cooter’s ring attire, Reno wondered if Cooter’s sponsor was John Deere. Casey hit a spinebuster, and Cooter rolled a shoulder out of Casey’s lazy back cover. Cooter’s big chance came when Casey ate the buckles charging in - corner lariat and a bulldog for a two count, then a backslide. Game over as Casey ended it with a superkick.
Casey gave MSJ a hard time in the interview area. Kind of an incoherent promo with the gist being the same stuff we’ve heard before. Casey said he was a Chippendale model, a Playgirl model, and the sexiest thing ever in SAW.
A clip of T. J. Harley being choked out by Rob Roy McCoy aired led into a pre-recorded interview with Harley. Harley indicated that he was in mental anguish after that loss and admitted there was truth in the things the announcers were saying about his lack of focus. Harley said the fans had not seen the true fire inside him. Harley said he held the gold before (clip of Harley winning the title. Wow-hardly looks like the same guy) and his goal was to be the SAW champion again.
(2) T. J. Harley pinned Sigmon at 4:26. Reno said Harley was never the same after losing the SAW TV Title, as if it was too much, too soon. Sigmon bailed after absorbing a lariat. Harley stayed aggressive, with a really nice slingshot elbow for a near fall. Harley did a little dance step for the fans and got caught flush upside the head with an enzuigiri. Harley never saw it coming and sold it like a knockout, but kicked out at two. Reno speculated that Harley’s problem was his emotions took over. Dropkick by Sigmon. Sunset flip by Harley but cut off with a lariat. Multiple pin attempts but Sigmon couldn’t make them stick. Harley got a comeback and went for his finisher, which Sigmon reversed into German suplex. That was sweet. But Sigmon made THE BIG MISTAKE going for a top rope diving headbutt. Harley went right to his shoulderbreaker finisher for the win.
MSJ conducted a postmatch interview with Harley, who reiterated his drive and dedication to regain the title.
SAW Summary: Rob Roy McCoy. Highlight clips aired showing McCoy’s vicious, sadistic rise through the ranks of SAW, his mounting frustration with not getting a title shot, and the attack on Jeff Jamison’s deformed limb which lead to his suspension by the SAW BOD. They played a phone conversation with McCoy direct from Scotland. McCoy said we hadn’t seen the last of him. He had his lawyers working on getting him back in the good old USA.
And in the meantime, you can bet your bottom dollar, I am training more vicious and determined to inflict pain, spill blood, and take the SAW Championship back to the highlands of Scotland.
(3) Tennessee Violence Authority (Hammerjack & Matt Dillinger with Paul Adams) beat Shane Eden & Chris Bomb to retain the SAW Tag Titles in 5:10. Eden and Bomb got off to a fast start using quick tags and double teams to press their advantage. But Hammerjack stepped aside on Eden’s cartwheel back elbow, and TVA soon had Eden in a bad way. The highlight of the heat was Dillinger busting out a Falcon Arrow~! Reno said he hated wrestling crazy guys because you couldn’t hurt them. Eden slipped out of Dillenger’s bodyslam attempt and connected with a dropkick. TVA briefly fed Bomb, and then it was sunset flips in stereo by Bomb and Eden. Dillinger tossed Eden out, and while Ricky Bell was checking him, Dillinger cracked Bomb with his pool cue. TVA hit a guillotine legdrop/sideslam combo on Bomb and Hammerjack made the pin.
(4) Chrisjen Hayme beat Josh Crowe in 3:42. Hayme punched Crowe on the break and started to tee off on him. Crowe reversed a hiptoss to launch flurry of offense, but Hayme got his knees up on Crowe’s split-legged moonsault. Hayme hit a double underhook suplex for two. Hed dropkicked Crowe and paused for a pose before covering, and Crowe grabbed the ropes. Hayme licked his bicep, while choking Crowe over the ropes. Hayme caught Crowe right in the face with a stiff flying front kick. Crowe managed to get a foot on the ropes. Reno said it might have been a three count if not for Hayme’s self-absorbed personality. Crowe went up and over Hayme for a reverse roll up. Crowe did a standing moonsault using Hayme’s chest as a platform. It barely made contact but Hayme sold it for a near fall. Hayme rolled through on a sunset flip, dropkicked Crowe in the face, and hit a springboard moonsault for the pin.
“Options Rental Main Event” preview. Reno explained that after A Team jerked away his interview time last week, Drew Haskins, the first graduate of the SAW wrestling academy, went to Deputy Commissioner Mike Sircy and requested a match against Rick Santel. Video footage of the incident aired. Comments from Santel. He admitted Haskins was a talented rookie, but a greenhorn still, one that didn’t belong in the ring with a SAW Hall of Famer and “nature’s greatest miracle.” Santel said the focus should be on the brutal beating A Team handed Boogie Woogie Boy and Arrick Andrews. “Drew, you’re going to be taught a lesson, just like Boogie Nation.” Haskins said he idolized Santel as a great wrestler despite his recent actions. “Somebody, even if it’s just me, Drew Haskins, somebody’s got to stand up and send a message to the A Team.”
(5) Drew Haskins beat Rick Santel (with Paul Adams) in 4:36. Santel attacked Haskins as soon as slid under the ropes. Santel was smiling and looked completely relaxed. Too much so. Haskins reversed Santel with a spinning headscissors and signaled he was go to the top rope. Santel shoved Bell into the ropes, crotching Haskins on the top turnbuckle. The rest of the match was a total beatdown on Haskins with Santel repeatedly pulling him up to disallow the pin. MSJ called it a mockery of wrestling. Paul and Santel taunted Riggins about what they were doing to his boy. Reno came to ringside to protest. It became a battle of words. While Paul was busy jawing with Reno, Haskins caught Santel in a small package to score the flash pin.
TVA hit the ring and it was 3 on 1 on the helpless rookie. TVA hit their finisher on him. Reno went back to ringside, and Paul just shooed him away with his towel. There was great close up of Haskins with his eyes rolled up in his head, Undertaker style, as Santel had him in a camel clutch. Total humiliation. A Team stood at the bottom of the ramp admiring their work. The crowd popped.
A Team didn’t see Boogie and Andrews standing at the top of the ramp behind them. “And here we go!” The show went off the air with Dream Team cleaning house on A Team.
Closing Thoughts: This review comes on the heels of Corry Maclin’s announcement that Memphis Wrestling may be producing new shows in the near future. This was one of SAW’s weaker shows of late. With that said, when it come to the Memphis style TV wrestling, SAW is setting a standard that will be difficult for Memphis to beat. There’s a dedication to producing the best wrestling television possible with limited resources in SAW that I respect, much the same way I feel about NWA Wildside and its successor, NWA Anarchy. On to this week’s show: The only storyline advancement took place in the last 60 seconds. Crowd was lethargic, and that was the only time they really showed life. Generic win for Casey. He faces Damian for the title next week, although that was not mentioned. Cooter showed nothing, but Reno’s John Deere comment cracked me up. Casey’s promo was a waste. I guess he’s trying to be funny in a heelish way, but it was so unentertaining and had no message. I liked the sitdown with Harley because he got across the burning desire to excel. The weird thing was after all the talk about rededication; Harley made the same dumb, unfocused mistake in the match that he was making before he left. Be that as it may, Harley/Sigmon was the only good wrestling on the show. As previously noted, Sigmon has talent. Harley selling is a big plus. The segment on McCoy was an excellent summary, but it was the phone conversation that made it special. The great thing was McCoy was legit calling from Scotland, not sitting in some apartment in Nashvillle. TVA match was also a standard formula tag. They met some early resistance but a pretty easy win. Not that there’s anything wrong with that from time to time to keep the champs strong. Eden worked most of the way, which was a good thing. The Hayme match was lousy. He’s needs a good opponent to look his best. Crowe’s indietastic offense really dragged it down. The standing moonsault was pitiful, and Hayme’s finisher didn’t look all that hot either. A positive is Hayme once again showed he’s got a variety of finishers in his arsenal. Still, it feels like he’s playing at being heel -it doesn’t ring true. The comments Santel and Haskins made in the Options Rental (some shameless commerce there) match preview segment a winner. Anyone that missed last week’s show came away with a full understanding of why this match was taking place. Santel and Haskins were both good in their respective roles. I’m really enjoying Santel as a heel. It’s a good angle. I just wonder if it was done prematurely, in the sense that Haskins isn’t far enough along in the ring where the angle can be used to position him at a higher level.
REMINDER: 5:30 PM Tonight!! Jimmy Valiant Joins The Shiznit!!
---Just wanted to remind everyone that tonight Brian Thompson and I will be joined by Mark James, of www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com, talking about his new book. I also just got an e-mail from Mark James and we will be also joined tonight by "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant!!! I also will have a major announcement tonight in the last 5 minutes on the guest for next week's "Shooting the Shiznit"!! I am real excited about this guest as this person is from a famous wrestling family and should be a great guest. Listen tonight!!
Photo by Jim Cornette
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
C.H.R. returns Thursday night at 10pm central
Tune in for the return of Cheap Heat Radio tomorrow night at 10pm central. I will be joined by Olly Bradford columnist at hollywoodjimmy.com for discussion of wrestling in the area and beyond. Should be a fun show as Olly is one of the few guys more opinionated than I am isn't afraid to say what's on his mind. Call ins welcome, feel free to call with questions, comments, plugs, or whatever. The number to call is (347) 838-8101. You can listen to the show live at www.rroradio.com or download it later and listen at you leisure.
RRO's Gene "War Machine" Jackson!!
----Tia over at www.wrestlingnewscenter.com version of "Flashback" [groan] posted the the above photo of RRO Columnist of The Year 2007 from this wrestling days. CLICK HERE to see all three of the photos.
RassleResults: JWS Booneville, MS 5.24.08
Jay Webster beat Damion Rage.
24/7 beat Chris Stevens and BJ Fuller.
Chazz and Dalton Storm beat LSD and AC Styles. Dalton turned on Chazz and joined PHAT Foundation after the match.
Tysin Starr beat Cyrus.
Justin Rhodes and Chris Fontaine beat Buzz Harley and Blade.
Bonecrusher beat Chris Fontaine.
Nick Grimes beat Cassanova Kid to win the JWS Cruiserweight belt.
Credit: www.wrestlingnewscenter.com
24/7 beat Chris Stevens and BJ Fuller.
Chazz and Dalton Storm beat LSD and AC Styles. Dalton turned on Chazz and joined PHAT Foundation after the match.
Tysin Starr beat Cyrus.
Justin Rhodes and Chris Fontaine beat Buzz Harley and Blade.
Bonecrusher beat Chris Fontaine.
Nick Grimes beat Cassanova Kid to win the JWS Cruiserweight belt.
Credit: www.wrestlingnewscenter.com
SEW TV Report 5.24.08
Airs every Saturday at 10am on Memphis Comcast Channel 17;
Cassanova Kid came out for his match, but was attacked from behind by Chris Lexx. The Kid made an effort to fight back, but was laid out and pinned by Lexx.
Soultaker w/Antoin Smooth def. Kross after being given a chain by Smooth.
Bishop def. Jake the Jackhammer with a spear.
SEW General Manager Tim Williams made a 5-on-5 team challenge to Smooth at "No Escape". Smooth came out with The Crime, Malik, and Kingpin to accept the challenge, before attacking the GM and taking him into the ring. Reno Diamond made the save with a bat, and the GM pulled out a chair to clear the ring.
After the show, the announcement was made that the 5-on-5 challenge would be a War Games match. This did not air on TV due to time constraints, but the video can be seen online - CLICK HERE.
Cassanova Kid came out for his match, but was attacked from behind by Chris Lexx. The Kid made an effort to fight back, but was laid out and pinned by Lexx.
Soultaker w/Antoin Smooth def. Kross after being given a chain by Smooth.
Bishop def. Jake the Jackhammer with a spear.
SEW General Manager Tim Williams made a 5-on-5 team challenge to Smooth at "No Escape". Smooth came out with The Crime, Malik, and Kingpin to accept the challenge, before attacking the GM and taking him into the ring. Reno Diamond made the save with a bat, and the GM pulled out a chair to clear the ring.
After the show, the announcement was made that the 5-on-5 challenge would be a War Games match. This did not air on TV due to time constraints, but the video can be seen online - CLICK HERE.
RassleResults: RWA Jonesboro, AR 5.24.08
Saturday's show opened with Frank Martin reminding the crowd of last weeks results and that the crowd would get the chance to pick the match that they wanted to be the weapons match. The crowd brought the weapons to the arena and they had chains, baseball bats, boards, crutches, belts etc. The crowd decided that they wanted to see “The Leprechauns” [Lethal/Lucky] and “The Natural Born Players” [Southside Brawler/Pimptacular] in the weapons match.
Rottn Randy came out and informed the crowd that he was scouting talent for his new stable of wrestlers. The crowd has taken to Randy in his new role as a face manager.
Rik Burton and “Classy” Meltin Massy came out and told the fans that in fact the contract was legit and he can wrestle even though the SFT cannot. Martin confirmed his mistake but then told Burton as long as he owned the company he can keep him from wrestling. Burton asked Martin if he had to give him a reason to let him wrestle and then attacked Rottn Randy. “The Big Indian” Quixote made the save and Martin booked the match for next week Quixote VS Rik Burton.
----Big Rig Cody Murdock beat The Offical. Silas beat J.D. Carey( the first student to graduate from Rodney Macks School) and Zac Richards. “The Southern Gangster” Big Al beat PP3…Quixote beat Chris Steel,,,Shawn Schultz beat Allen Shephard…Weapons Match. The Leprechauns by DQ The Natural Born Players.
---- There were 100+ people in the building and for the holiday weekend that was a great crowd…Martin has promised the crowd that he would be bringing in more of the NWA stars each month. The angle with Rik Burton is that he is making a statement each week as he keeps leaving the faces laid out and piled up in the ring. They are building for Rik’s group probably versus Randy’s group and when Ali Stevens makes his way back and this should even things up a bit…Next week there will be a lumberjack match with the fans picking the match for the lumberjacks to be in…Shultz & Shephard are in from NWA Main Event. ASWF also had 3 guys from that show, so I wonder if they rode together??...They had announcers [who were they??] this week that added a great deal to the matches. They did a great job of commentary on what was going on in the ring and only what is going on in the ring… The RWA will do their first benefit in Paragould for James and Jackie Godfrey. This is Rottn Randy's Parents and they both have cancer. Anyone who would like to donate for this cause please contact the RWA at 870 243-0459.
Rottn Randy came out and informed the crowd that he was scouting talent for his new stable of wrestlers. The crowd has taken to Randy in his new role as a face manager.
Rik Burton and “Classy” Meltin Massy came out and told the fans that in fact the contract was legit and he can wrestle even though the SFT cannot. Martin confirmed his mistake but then told Burton as long as he owned the company he can keep him from wrestling. Burton asked Martin if he had to give him a reason to let him wrestle and then attacked Rottn Randy. “The Big Indian” Quixote made the save and Martin booked the match for next week Quixote VS Rik Burton.
----Big Rig Cody Murdock beat The Offical. Silas beat J.D. Carey( the first student to graduate from Rodney Macks School) and Zac Richards. “The Southern Gangster” Big Al beat PP3…Quixote beat Chris Steel,,,Shawn Schultz beat Allen Shephard…Weapons Match. The Leprechauns by DQ The Natural Born Players.
---- There were 100+ people in the building and for the holiday weekend that was a great crowd…Martin has promised the crowd that he would be bringing in more of the NWA stars each month. The angle with Rik Burton is that he is making a statement each week as he keeps leaving the faces laid out and piled up in the ring. They are building for Rik’s group probably versus Randy’s group and when Ali Stevens makes his way back and this should even things up a bit…Next week there will be a lumberjack match with the fans picking the match for the lumberjacks to be in…Shultz & Shephard are in from NWA Main Event. ASWF also had 3 guys from that show, so I wonder if they rode together??...They had announcers [who were they??] this week that added a great deal to the matches. They did a great job of commentary on what was going on in the ring and only what is going on in the ring… The RWA will do their first benefit in Paragould for James and Jackie Godfrey. This is Rottn Randy's Parents and they both have cancer. Anyone who would like to donate for this cause please contact the RWA at 870 243-0459.
Flashback May 31, 1982 by Mark James
Memorial Day: May 31, 1982
Lawler vs Kamala, 1st match
With Memorial day happening this week, I looked back in the cards to see if anything jumped out. In looking at Memorial Day 1982 (May 31), I noticed the first appearance of Kamala.
Growing up watching Memphis wrestling in the 1970’s, the first “monster” heel I remember is the Mongolian Stomper (Archie Gouldie). When you saw him in the ring, you knew there was no way he could ever lose. In Memphis , during the summer of 1982, Kamala became that monster heel.
I can remember the video package they started showing a few weeks before the Ugandan giant arrived. It showed the deep dark wilderness of Uganda , (ok… actually it was filmed in Jerry Jarrett ’s back yard.) Kamala was the brainchild of Jerry Jarrett, and was a big guy who wearing a wooden tribal mask, tribal painting on his stomach (courtesy of Jerry Lawler) and a loin cloth. Jarrett had JJ Dillon sending in weekly video spots to explain that he was the big man’s manager and he would be there shortly. Until his arrival, the masked “Kim Chee” would handle the ringside needs of Kamala.
I know, it's completely goofy, but when he got into the ring, it worked. This giant of a man stood over 6’5”and easily weighed over 350 lbs. He would take that mask off and go around the ring slapping his belly. As the match got going, Kamala would tie up with the opponent and start laying into them with vicious overhand tomahawk chops. The wrestlers would roll end over end from the power of the chops. The angle was played out beautifully. Lawler, Dundee, Steve Keirn, Stan Lane , etc, all sold Kamala as the toughest thing to come into Memphis in 20 years. The fans bought in to “Kamala”. For the entire summer of 1982, he reigned supreme in Memphis and was the Southern Heavyweight Champion until the King was eventually able to overcome him in late summer
In talking with Jerry Jarrett, the creation of Kamala is one of the characters that he is most proud of. Kamala was in reality wrestler, James “Sugarbear” Harris. According to Jarrett, Harris could not throw a convincing punch, was weak on the mic and had limited wrestling skills. What Harris did have was charisma and heart. With these building blocks, Jarrett built a gimmick that never had Harris on the mic, didn't require him to throw a punch and kept his wrestling to only the most basic of moves. Jerry was able to turn “Kamala” into a wrestling superstar.
After Memphis , Kamala had notable feuds with Magnum TA, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and Jake the snake Roberts. He is one of the most recognizable names and faces in all of wrestling. It all started on Memorial Day, 26 years ago this week.
----Mark James is the author of “Memphis Wrestling History – Cards, Matches, Results, Newspaper Clippings” Vol 1 and "Vol 2: The Programs 1972 - 1976" James also is the webmaster to the BEST Memphis Wrestling site in the area – www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com - Click on his site and order his books!!
Lawler vs Kamala, 1st match
With Memorial day happening this week, I looked back in the cards to see if anything jumped out. In looking at Memorial Day 1982 (May 31), I noticed the first appearance of Kamala.
Growing up watching Memphis wrestling in the 1970’s, the first “monster” heel I remember is the Mongolian Stomper (Archie Gouldie). When you saw him in the ring, you knew there was no way he could ever lose. In Memphis , during the summer of 1982, Kamala became that monster heel.
I can remember the video package they started showing a few weeks before the Ugandan giant arrived. It showed the deep dark wilderness of Uganda , (ok… actually it was filmed in Jerry Jarrett ’s back yard.) Kamala was the brainchild of Jerry Jarrett, and was a big guy who wearing a wooden tribal mask, tribal painting on his stomach (courtesy of Jerry Lawler) and a loin cloth. Jarrett had JJ Dillon sending in weekly video spots to explain that he was the big man’s manager and he would be there shortly. Until his arrival, the masked “Kim Chee” would handle the ringside needs of Kamala.
I know, it's completely goofy, but when he got into the ring, it worked. This giant of a man stood over 6’5”and easily weighed over 350 lbs. He would take that mask off and go around the ring slapping his belly. As the match got going, Kamala would tie up with the opponent and start laying into them with vicious overhand tomahawk chops. The wrestlers would roll end over end from the power of the chops. The angle was played out beautifully. Lawler, Dundee, Steve Keirn, Stan Lane , etc, all sold Kamala as the toughest thing to come into Memphis in 20 years. The fans bought in to “Kamala”. For the entire summer of 1982, he reigned supreme in Memphis and was the Southern Heavyweight Champion until the King was eventually able to overcome him in late summer
In talking with Jerry Jarrett, the creation of Kamala is one of the characters that he is most proud of. Kamala was in reality wrestler, James “Sugarbear” Harris. According to Jarrett, Harris could not throw a convincing punch, was weak on the mic and had limited wrestling skills. What Harris did have was charisma and heart. With these building blocks, Jarrett built a gimmick that never had Harris on the mic, didn't require him to throw a punch and kept his wrestling to only the most basic of moves. Jerry was able to turn “Kamala” into a wrestling superstar.
After Memphis , Kamala had notable feuds with Magnum TA, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and Jake the snake Roberts. He is one of the most recognizable names and faces in all of wrestling. It all started on Memorial Day, 26 years ago this week.
----Mark James is the author of “Memphis Wrestling History – Cards, Matches, Results, Newspaper Clippings” Vol 1 and "Vol 2: The Programs 1972 - 1976" James also is the webmaster to the BEST Memphis Wrestling site in the area – www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com - Click on his site and order his books!!
"What Memphis Watches" by Ron Guidry
Memphis loves the NBA Playoffs! Smackdown and Raw’s ratings this week were affected, IMO, by the NBA Playoffs. Smackdowns’ numbers were down this week but they stayed consistent throughout the show. The Lakers/Spurs playoff game that night drew a 7.4 which is not surprising since there is a butt-load of Lakers fans in Memphis. I covered many of the Lakers/Grizzlies games in Memphis and I can honestly say at times the Lakers fans were louder than the Grizzlies fans. Smackdown still ended up being the 3rd most watched TV show in Memphis that night.
Raw’s ratings were substantially down from last week. As with Smackdown, Raw was affected, IMO, by the NBA Playoffs. The Pistons/Celtics game Monday drew an 8.0 rating which ended up being the most watched TV show that night. What’s weird is that during football season Raws’ Memphis numbers stay pretty steady and hold up well against Monday Night Football, but that hasn’t been the case with the NBA Playoffs. Memphis is well known as a wrestling town, but don’t forget they love some basketball too. Another thing that jumped out at me from Raw’s ratings was the overrun numbers. Last week the overrun did a 5.0, this week a 1.5. The overrun segment being Vince’s announcement of giving away 1 million dollars. When the main event was over people tuned out. I’ll be anxious to see when the national numbers come out for Raw later today if people across the nation tuned out too.
I was happy to see TNA’s ratings for Thursday’s Impact increase. It was also nice to see they held their audience throughout the entire show. With their PPV at the Desoto Civic Center being just a week and a half away, maybe people that are on the fence about attending the PPV are tuning in to Impact. TNA has been advertising heavy on 98.1 The Max in Memphis and I even saw a commercial for the PPV last night during RAW. Advertising is the key to having a well-attended show and in turn maybe it has gotten a few people to watch Impact too.
Memphis Wrestling numbers? What can you say about a show that just shows rerun matches and still does a 2.4. I’m actually impressed that they still have an audience and still do respectable ratings. WPXX-50 has got to be ecstatic to have Memphis Wrestling and Smackdown moving over to its station.
If you have any questions or comments just email me at: rpg187@gmail.com.
Note: The ratings for RAW is listed as 2 separate hours. I will round off, to the highest number, the averages of both hours for the final rating.
Thanks and enjoy!!!
TNA Impact (Thursday) 5-22-08
Final Rating: 2.2 [36,936 viewers] 3 share
Quarter hours:
1st hour: 1.8 [30,220 viewers], 2.0 [33578 viewers], 2.0 [33,578 viewers], 2.7 [45,330 viewers]
2nd hour: 2.4 [40,294 viewers], 2.4 [40,294 viewers], 2.2 [36,936 viewers], 2.1 [35,257 viewers]
WWE Friday Night Smackdown 5-23-08
Final Rating: 4.3 [72,193 viewers] 7 share
Quarter hours:
1st hour: 4.3 [72,193 viewers], 4.2 [70,514 viewers], 4.2 [70,514 viewers], 4.2 [70,514 viewers]
2nd hour: 4.7 [78,904 viewers], 4.4 [73,872 viewers], 4.2[70,514 viewers], 4.3 [72,193 viewers]
Memphis Wrestling 5-24-08
Final Rating: 2.4 [40,294 viewers] 4 share
Quarter hours: 2.4 [40,294 viewers], 3.2 [53,725 viewers], 1.9 [31,899 viewers], 1.9 [31,899 viewers]
12 Week Average: 2.1 [35,313 viewers]
12 Week High: 3.4 [57,083 viewers] 5.03.08
12 Week Low: 1.1 [19,139 viewers] 3.15.08
TNA Impact Replay 5-24-08
Final Rating: 0.4 [6,716 viewers] 1 share
Quarter hours:
1st hour: 0.6 [10,073 viewers], 0.3 [5,037 viewers], 0.5 [8,395 viewers], 0.5 [8,395 viewers]
2nd hour: 0.6 [10,073 viewers], 0.5 [8,395 viewers], 0.3 [5,037 viewers], 0.3 [5,037 viewers]
WWE A.M. 5-25-08
Final Rating: 1.9 [31,899 viewers] 4 share
Quarter hours: 2.3 [38,615 viewers], 1.9 [31,899 viewers], 1.9 [31,899 viewers], 1.7 [28,541 viewers]
WWE Raw 5-26-08
Final Rating: 4.1 [68,835 viewers] 6 share
1st hour: 4.1 [68,835 viewers] 6 share
Quarter hours: 3.5 [58,762 viewers], 5.0 [83,945 viewers], 4.3 [72,193 viewers], 3.7 [62,119 viewers]
2nd hour: 4.0 [67,156 viewers] 5 share
Quarter hours: 4.4 [73,872 viewers], 4.0 [67,156 viewers], 3.8 [63,798 viewers], 4.0 [67,156 viewers]
Overrun: 1.5 [25,184 viewers]
----Ron Guidry works for a Memphis TV station and provides the rating anaylsis every week. He was formerly known as “The Penguin” was the old Kick Ass Wrestling promotion.
Raw’s ratings were substantially down from last week. As with Smackdown, Raw was affected, IMO, by the NBA Playoffs. The Pistons/Celtics game Monday drew an 8.0 rating which ended up being the most watched TV show that night. What’s weird is that during football season Raws’ Memphis numbers stay pretty steady and hold up well against Monday Night Football, but that hasn’t been the case with the NBA Playoffs. Memphis is well known as a wrestling town, but don’t forget they love some basketball too. Another thing that jumped out at me from Raw’s ratings was the overrun numbers. Last week the overrun did a 5.0, this week a 1.5. The overrun segment being Vince’s announcement of giving away 1 million dollars. When the main event was over people tuned out. I’ll be anxious to see when the national numbers come out for Raw later today if people across the nation tuned out too.
I was happy to see TNA’s ratings for Thursday’s Impact increase. It was also nice to see they held their audience throughout the entire show. With their PPV at the Desoto Civic Center being just a week and a half away, maybe people that are on the fence about attending the PPV are tuning in to Impact. TNA has been advertising heavy on 98.1 The Max in Memphis and I even saw a commercial for the PPV last night during RAW. Advertising is the key to having a well-attended show and in turn maybe it has gotten a few people to watch Impact too.
Memphis Wrestling numbers? What can you say about a show that just shows rerun matches and still does a 2.4. I’m actually impressed that they still have an audience and still do respectable ratings. WPXX-50 has got to be ecstatic to have Memphis Wrestling and Smackdown moving over to its station.
If you have any questions or comments just email me at: rpg187@gmail.com.
Note: The ratings for RAW is listed as 2 separate hours. I will round off, to the highest number, the averages of both hours for the final rating.
Thanks and enjoy!!!
TNA Impact (Thursday) 5-22-08
Final Rating: 2.2 [36,936 viewers] 3 share
Quarter hours:
1st hour: 1.8 [30,220 viewers], 2.0 [33578 viewers], 2.0 [33,578 viewers], 2.7 [45,330 viewers]
2nd hour: 2.4 [40,294 viewers], 2.4 [40,294 viewers], 2.2 [36,936 viewers], 2.1 [35,257 viewers]
WWE Friday Night Smackdown 5-23-08
Final Rating: 4.3 [72,193 viewers] 7 share
Quarter hours:
1st hour: 4.3 [72,193 viewers], 4.2 [70,514 viewers], 4.2 [70,514 viewers], 4.2 [70,514 viewers]
2nd hour: 4.7 [78,904 viewers], 4.4 [73,872 viewers], 4.2[70,514 viewers], 4.3 [72,193 viewers]
Memphis Wrestling 5-24-08
Final Rating: 2.4 [40,294 viewers] 4 share
Quarter hours: 2.4 [40,294 viewers], 3.2 [53,725 viewers], 1.9 [31,899 viewers], 1.9 [31,899 viewers]
12 Week Average: 2.1 [35,313 viewers]
12 Week High: 3.4 [57,083 viewers] 5.03.08
12 Week Low: 1.1 [19,139 viewers] 3.15.08
TNA Impact Replay 5-24-08
Final Rating: 0.4 [6,716 viewers] 1 share
Quarter hours:
1st hour: 0.6 [10,073 viewers], 0.3 [5,037 viewers], 0.5 [8,395 viewers], 0.5 [8,395 viewers]
2nd hour: 0.6 [10,073 viewers], 0.5 [8,395 viewers], 0.3 [5,037 viewers], 0.3 [5,037 viewers]
WWE A.M. 5-25-08
Final Rating: 1.9 [31,899 viewers] 4 share
Quarter hours: 2.3 [38,615 viewers], 1.9 [31,899 viewers], 1.9 [31,899 viewers], 1.7 [28,541 viewers]
WWE Raw 5-26-08
Final Rating: 4.1 [68,835 viewers] 6 share
1st hour: 4.1 [68,835 viewers] 6 share
Quarter hours: 3.5 [58,762 viewers], 5.0 [83,945 viewers], 4.3 [72,193 viewers], 3.7 [62,119 viewers]
2nd hour: 4.0 [67,156 viewers] 5 share
Quarter hours: 4.4 [73,872 viewers], 4.0 [67,156 viewers], 3.8 [63,798 viewers], 4.0 [67,156 viewers]
Overrun: 1.5 [25,184 viewers]
----Ron Guidry works for a Memphis TV station and provides the rating anaylsis every week. He was formerly known as “The Penguin” was the old Kick Ass Wrestling promotion.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
"Shooting the Shiznit" Thursday Afternoon!!
----Brian Tramel with co-host Brian Thompson will be joined by a SIE representative to talk about the upcoming show in June. Mark James, of www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com, talking about his new book. The last few minutes will be used to talk some of the up to the minute news items and maybe we will be joined by another guest?!?
New Memphis Wrestling History Book Released!!
----Mark James, webmaster of www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com, has done it again!! Yes, Volume 2 of his Memphis History books was released today and all I can say is – go to his site and buy one!! His first book was “Cards, Matches, Results and Newspaper Clippings Vol 1: 1970 – 1985”. It was great book with tons of fun stuff, but this one I liked much better. It is “Vol 2: The Programs 1972 – 1976” and it is amazing. The fun thing about it is that these are four years leading up to my first year of being a wrestling fan – August, 1977. So, it was like a big trip down pre-memory lane.
----The major PLUS for this Volume is that it not only features the programs for every week of those years, but Mark also interviewed Jerry Jarrett, Jimmy Valiant, Bill Dundee, Jimmy Hart, Lance Russell [forward is by him], Randy Hales, Scott Bowden, Billy Wicks, “Big” Jack Eaton, Tim Dills and Dave Millican to help tell the stories. My favorite stuff was reading all the things that Jerry Jarrett had to say. It was very interesting stuff.
----I would like to thank Mark James for sending an advance copy of the book to me. I read through all 400+ pages in less than two days. You can just sit and look at it page after page over and over. CLICK HERE to go to the publisher’s web site to buy the book. It only $24.99 for the soft cover and that is a great price considering the book is huge and full of tons of great stuff.
Big Show Tonight!!!
-----------------------------------
Nashville Wrestling
Tuesday May 27th, 2008 7:45pm
Nashville Fairgorunds Nashville TN
Ringside Seats $8 General Admission $7.50
------------------------------------
MAIN EVENT RETURN NWA MID-AMERICA HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH SHAWN SHULTZ (CHAMPION) -VS- ADAM ARMOR (CHALLENGER) ------------------------------------
NWA MID-AMERICA X DIVISION TITLE MATCH L. T. FALK (CHALENGER) -VS- SHANE SMALLS (CHAMPION)
------------------------------------
RETURN GRUDGE BATTLE "SHEPHERD BROTHERS" ALAN & ALEX -VS- "NATURALS" CHASE STEVENS & ANDY DOUGLAS
------------------------------------
MATT BOYCE -VS- JON MICHAELS
------------------------------------
STEVE 0 -VS- DAMIEN PAYNE
------------------------------------
"ATOMIC DOGG" ALI STEVENS -VS- LANI KEALOHA
------------------------------------
DINGO THE CLOWN -VS- "MANIAC" MARC ANTHONY W/CHARMING CHARLES
------------------------------------
COMPLIMENTS OF ELITE PEST CONTROL OUT OF SCHOOL SPECIAL! FOR THIS TUESDAY NIGHT ONLY MAY 27 ALL STUDENTS GENERAL ADMISSION SEAT ONLY $5.00
Nashville Wrestling
Tuesday May 27th, 2008 7:45pm
Nashville Fairgorunds Nashville TN
Ringside Seats $8 General Admission $7.50
------------------------------------
MAIN EVENT RETURN NWA MID-AMERICA HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH SHAWN SHULTZ (CHAMPION) -VS- ADAM ARMOR (CHALLENGER) ------------------------------------
NWA MID-AMERICA X DIVISION TITLE MATCH L. T. FALK (CHALENGER) -VS- SHANE SMALLS (CHAMPION)
------------------------------------
RETURN GRUDGE BATTLE "SHEPHERD BROTHERS" ALAN & ALEX -VS- "NATURALS" CHASE STEVENS & ANDY DOUGLAS
------------------------------------
MATT BOYCE -VS- JON MICHAELS
------------------------------------
STEVE 0 -VS- DAMIEN PAYNE
------------------------------------
"ATOMIC DOGG" ALI STEVENS -VS- LANI KEALOHA
------------------------------------
DINGO THE CLOWN -VS- "MANIAC" MARC ANTHONY W/CHARMING CHARLES
------------------------------------
COMPLIMENTS OF ELITE PEST CONTROL OUT OF SCHOOL SPECIAL! FOR THIS TUESDAY NIGHT ONLY MAY 27 ALL STUDENTS GENERAL ADMISSION SEAT ONLY $5.00
RassleResults: ASWF Tuckerman, AR 5.24.08 - New Tag Champions!!
Seth Sabor beat Silent Mark. Mark gave a good fight to the newly edition of Seth but of course his Mexican friends came out just to put a pressure on Mark where Seth gets a pin fall.
Mike Anthony beat Christopher Lee. Probable the best rookie on greener match I have seen had both crowd in it and storyline was right with Mike Anthony getting the pin from the double stomp finishers.
X-Kaliber confronts Morgan Lane--- Turns into a fight into the ring X brings in the ring steps it happens to back fire and he gets RKO on the steps and Orton’s kick into the side which was close to a shoot kick.
Scott Fury beat Rick Rage and “Hot Rod” John Ellison — about a solid match with Scott and Hot Rod doing most of it when the finish came Rick held up Scott to let Hot Rod super kick him - Scott ducked and Rage got kicked Scott pins Rick Rage. Fury still European Champ.
Johnny Hawk & Harper beat Tommy Wayne & Ray Ray –Solid Match - crowd was very hot. Ray takes the heat selling hurt shoulder and of course Seth Sabor is outside the ring Finally Tommy gets hot tag and starts to bump Hawk and Harper. Tommy sets up Hawk in middle of ring goes to top rope Seth hits the feet of Tommy making him land on the top rope and falls to the outside. As Ray goes to suplex Harper back in the ring Seth again interferes holding rays feet so Harper lands on Ray for the 123.
Adam Armor beat Alex Shepard. Very good workers they travel with Chase Adam Armor over by pin fall.
Acid & Idol Bane beat Cody Only & TCO. Very stiff match From both sides. Idol takes the heat. Again very good heat crowd was there finally Acid gets hot tag. Clears out Cody Only with Idol Delivering a double Big Boot, TCO gets bumped and receives a splash from acid and leg drop from idol at same time. He kicks out. Acid finally puts TCO away with the f-5. After match Cody Only Hits TCO with blackhole slam on concrete - beautiful bump by both men.
Austin Lane & Lil Devil Vs Sarge O’Reilly & Kid J—Very good comedy match but at the end the midgets came up a little short. Austin & Sarge turned on midgets giving double vertically challenged suplex to both midgets. Scott Fury makes save.
Main Event Demon X & Wild Bill Vs Justin “The Juice” Smart and Chase Stevens [pictured] Juice took the heat and actually made it all work for Chase to get hot tag. Chase Hits Demon X with a standing FU and pins them 123 new tag champs!! Celebration started when Juice gets side hit with brass knuckles and Chase also gets worked over by Demon and Wild Bill.
----150+ in the crowd…Next Week Demon X & Wild Bill Vs The Naturals, Sarge & Austin Vs Kid J/Lil Devil & Scott Fury, Ray Vs Seth, Tommy Wayne Vs Johnny Hawk and much more…Have I said how horrible Demon X & Wild Bill are as a team?? Why not let some of the young guys work “The Naturals”???
RassleResults: NBW Dyersburg, TN - Tim Edwards, Seth Knight and Crazy Train Return!!
Show opened w/ Rick Marx in the ring introducing the person who saved NBW.... Jeremy Moore! Moore came out and said the he would like to welcome everyone to NBW just like he said, XOW is gone. At this point Rick said that there were major changes coming and tonight there was a new commissioner! Out comes Commissioner Cheetum. He stated that based on Moore's performance last week, he would get a title shot against motley cruz tonight! Kilo came out furious, he said who did the new commissioner think he was giving a title shot to someone that doesn't deserve it, he said he helped pin masters and he should be the one to get the shot. Moore said that had it not been for him, Kilo would have tapped to the masterlock. Finally after the talking was over Kilo left the ring mad. The commish said the match was set for later.
The Sicilian Kid came out and said that he wanted to issue an open challenge for the night. Out of the back came two masked men, one named Deranged, the other named Mr. XOW and they jumped him. This brought out Tim Edwards, who said he knew he wasn’t supposed to be here but he was in the back and saw what was going on and couldn't just set back and let it happen. He said that he said he would be there for the Kid no matter what. This brought out the commissioner, who recognized the fact Tim was not a member of the NBW roster anymore, but he was the new commissioner and he was doing things his way, so for tonight Tim was re-instated!
The Kid/Tim Edwards def. Deranged/Mr. XOW
The Commissioner was in the ring which prompted Mark Justice to come out. Mark said that he was glad Cheetum was the new man in town because he was friends with Jimmy Tidwell which meant Mark's job was secure, Cheetum said, yes it's secure...... if you can win your match tonight.
Mark Justice def. Josh Matthews after Tommy Redneck as himself interfered. After the match they were beating on Matthews until Chris Styles made the save. Cheetum said that since Redneck wanted to get involved then tonight both he and Mark would be fighting for the chance to stay in NBW, in a tag match against the “Sons of the South”. If they lose, the one who is pinned must be like XOW - outta here!
Kilo comes to the ring and said that apparently management wants to hold him down, even though he knows he can beat anyone in the back, even the special opponent he has tonight. This brought out "Dynamite" Seth Knight!
Kilo def. Seth Knight. Kilo won by putting his feet on the ropes post match, Seth found out that kilo did that and wanted to know why, kilo said his feet on the ropes was an "accident" then shook Seth's hand.
After intermission Rick said there was a special interview coming up. Crazy Train came to the ring and the people were going nuts. He stated he never lost his belt and said he deserves a shot. Mark Justice came out and said he doesn't deserve anything, he said that he got hurt and ran away so he shouldn't have anything handed to him. Commissioner Cheetum stated that if Mark was still here next week, then it would be Crazy Train against Mark Justice!
“Sons of the South” [Josh Matthews/Chris Styles] def. Mark Justice/Tommy Redneck after pinning Redneck.
In the main event motley Cruz def Jeremy Moore after Kilo put Cruz on top of Moore
The finish to that match was after Moore attempted the acecrusher and Motley pushed him off and then a ref bump. As the ref and Moore was down, Motley picked up the belt and was gonna blast Moore, but Kilo ran out and went to give Motley a superkick but Motley ducked and he hit Moore. At this point Crazy Train was right behind him and he blasted Motley with the belt and left the ring. As kilo was leaving he stopped and thought for a second then he put Cruz on top of Moore for the 3.
----100 in the crowd. Not a good judge on whether the big show hurt them or not because of it being memorial weekend and gas being so high. We will have to wait and look at next few weeks of shows…Pop of the night may have been Crazy Train. Big pops for Seth, Kilo and Moore…Main event had heat from the start to the finish and the crowd was with itt the whole time…Seth Knight will be a good addition here if he can stay away from his demons…The booking for this show was confusing. There were so many twists and turns that it made very little sense. If you are going to spend weeks building an angle and then do it, you have to stick with the stips. XOW was supposed to be gone, but Mark Justice, Tommy Redneck, Motley Cruz and even Mr. XOW [Redneck under a hood] was allowed to work. At least they did something for Mark & Tommy about staying with NBW if they won their match, but that goes back to killing the stip…Same thing with Tim Edwards – he lost a loser leave town match – he has to stay gone more than two weeks!! No stips of matches will mean NOTHING for this group if they don’t start sticking with them…I liked the finish of the main event.
The Sicilian Kid came out and said that he wanted to issue an open challenge for the night. Out of the back came two masked men, one named Deranged, the other named Mr. XOW and they jumped him. This brought out Tim Edwards, who said he knew he wasn’t supposed to be here but he was in the back and saw what was going on and couldn't just set back and let it happen. He said that he said he would be there for the Kid no matter what. This brought out the commissioner, who recognized the fact Tim was not a member of the NBW roster anymore, but he was the new commissioner and he was doing things his way, so for tonight Tim was re-instated!
The Kid/Tim Edwards def. Deranged/Mr. XOW
The Commissioner was in the ring which prompted Mark Justice to come out. Mark said that he was glad Cheetum was the new man in town because he was friends with Jimmy Tidwell which meant Mark's job was secure, Cheetum said, yes it's secure...... if you can win your match tonight.
Mark Justice def. Josh Matthews after Tommy Redneck as himself interfered. After the match they were beating on Matthews until Chris Styles made the save. Cheetum said that since Redneck wanted to get involved then tonight both he and Mark would be fighting for the chance to stay in NBW, in a tag match against the “Sons of the South”. If they lose, the one who is pinned must be like XOW - outta here!
Kilo comes to the ring and said that apparently management wants to hold him down, even though he knows he can beat anyone in the back, even the special opponent he has tonight. This brought out "Dynamite" Seth Knight!
Kilo def. Seth Knight. Kilo won by putting his feet on the ropes post match, Seth found out that kilo did that and wanted to know why, kilo said his feet on the ropes was an "accident" then shook Seth's hand.
After intermission Rick said there was a special interview coming up. Crazy Train came to the ring and the people were going nuts. He stated he never lost his belt and said he deserves a shot. Mark Justice came out and said he doesn't deserve anything, he said that he got hurt and ran away so he shouldn't have anything handed to him. Commissioner Cheetum stated that if Mark was still here next week, then it would be Crazy Train against Mark Justice!
“Sons of the South” [Josh Matthews/Chris Styles] def. Mark Justice/Tommy Redneck after pinning Redneck.
In the main event motley Cruz def Jeremy Moore after Kilo put Cruz on top of Moore
The finish to that match was after Moore attempted the acecrusher and Motley pushed him off and then a ref bump. As the ref and Moore was down, Motley picked up the belt and was gonna blast Moore, but Kilo ran out and went to give Motley a superkick but Motley ducked and he hit Moore. At this point Crazy Train was right behind him and he blasted Motley with the belt and left the ring. As kilo was leaving he stopped and thought for a second then he put Cruz on top of Moore for the 3.
----100 in the crowd. Not a good judge on whether the big show hurt them or not because of it being memorial weekend and gas being so high. We will have to wait and look at next few weeks of shows…Pop of the night may have been Crazy Train. Big pops for Seth, Kilo and Moore…Main event had heat from the start to the finish and the crowd was with itt the whole time…Seth Knight will be a good addition here if he can stay away from his demons…The booking for this show was confusing. There were so many twists and turns that it made very little sense. If you are going to spend weeks building an angle and then do it, you have to stick with the stips. XOW was supposed to be gone, but Mark Justice, Tommy Redneck, Motley Cruz and even Mr. XOW [Redneck under a hood] was allowed to work. At least they did something for Mark & Tommy about staying with NBW if they won their match, but that goes back to killing the stip…Same thing with Tim Edwards – he lost a loser leave town match – he has to stay gone more than two weeks!! No stips of matches will mean NOTHING for this group if they don’t start sticking with them…I liked the finish of the main event.
Arena Report: TLCW "Mayhem" 5.24.08
----The show started at 5:30 with a RRO Award Banquet. The wrestlers that did show up to the awards were given a WOODEN framed certificate. The awards were hosted by Ike Tucker, Dustin Hickenbottom, Mark Tipton and I. The wrestlers were treated to a meal. Not sure everything that was there, but I do know there was spaghetti. The Banquet ended with Derrick King receiving his three awards for Arena MOTY, Memphis TV MOTY and Wrestler of the Year. “The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony then got in the ring after DK won Wrestler of the Year and did a great promo [photo below] challenging DK to match to prove who is the “best of the best”. The band “White Noise” played before the matches and was not very good. Dustin Starr joined them for a couple of songs, which was pretty scary. LOL
----Mark Sterling beat Mike Sydal. Not a great match, but this was Sydal’s 10th match, so what can you expect. Sterling tried, but didn’t get much out of him. Good psychology and Sydal has some great facial expressions. Sydal did a standing moonsault at one point. He also did the Tajri springboard off the ropes spot, but then fell between the top and middle rope on the other side of the ring. It looked nasty, but he was ok and Sterling started the heat. Sterling ended with a sharpshooter. [*1/2]
----Bishop with Rashard Devon beat Reggie B Fine. A lady fan tried to get in the ring after Devon and Bishop. She got up to the apron and almost in the ring. Not sure why they had such crazy heat, but that lady hated them. Perfect psychology and Bishop looked good. Fine is Fine with nothing special, but had a solid match. Bishop beat him with a chain. [**]
----Gauntlet Match for Cruiserweight Title: Match started with “Rockin” Randy vs Gaylon Ray. Randy pinned Ray. Enter Shannon Lee – Randy pins Lee. Enter Erik Hayes – Hayes misses a moonsault [yes, his big ass did a pretty moonsault] – Randy pins Hayes. Enter Chris Rocker – Rocker twists his knee and goes to the dressing room. Enter Slim Pickens – real good exchange from these two – Randy pinned him with a superkick. Enter Greg King JR [kid throws a pretty dropkick!!] – Randy pins King after King does a flying press from the top rope and Randy rolls with it into a pin. Enter Baron Malkavain. Great pop for him and it was good while it lasted. After a ref bump [Kaleb] , Rocker entered the ring again with a chair and heel ref William Gibson. Rocker hit Malkavain HARD with a chair and ended up pinning Randy for the win. Randy was the work horse here and worked very hard. I didn’t like the finish, but overall the match was good. [***]
----Bishop with Rashard Devon beat Ike Tucker in less than a minute. Nothing wrong, but just a quick squash. [DUD]
----“3G” Eric Wayne/Kid Nikels beat Pokerface in a Handicap Best 2 out of 3 Falls match. Poker came out to announce that Rude had a family emergency in Missouri and could not make it. I was wishing they found Poker a partner, but these three guys worked this bout with perfect smart psychology. First fall got Poker DQed when he used a chair on Kid Nikels. Nikels went to the back with a hurt knee when Poker slammed the chair on it. Poker vs Wayne was good. Second fall came out of nowhere with Poker beating Wayne. Poker had the Texas Cloverleaf on Wayne and Nikels returned breaking it up. It ended up with Poker putting the Cloverleaf on Nikels. Just before that Wayne entered the ring and just set a chair up and then got out of the ring. When Poker put the hold on Nikels, then Wayne ran back in and slammed Poker’s head out of the hold onto the chair for Poker to lose the third fall. [**3/4]
----Chris O’Neal/Drew Donavon beat Cody Melton/Dell Tucker to retain the TLCW Tag Team Titles. Cody comes off as a natural heel. Melton did the old Lawler bump from over the ropes hitting his head on the ring apron after being closelined. Real good bout and could have easily been match of the night, if only O’Neal would have had a good partner. Tucker is still one of my favorite undercard guys. Tucker and Melton worked their asses off and Melton looked 10 times better than the last time I seen him. O’Neal was on also and took the heat for the team. Hot tag to Drew and it turned into a clusterfuck. It was like Donavon had no idea what to do and he got all tangled up with both Tucker/Melton and he shouldn’t have. Heels got the pin, but Bill Rush restarted the match and punched ref William Gibson. Huge POP when O’Neal/Drew won!! [**3/4]
----“The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony beat his “Mystery Opponent” Flex. Flex got a huge pop coming out. Good solid match. Some comedy spots in the start with TGB slapping Flex a couple of times and then Flex spitting water on TGB. Flex was ready to jump from the second rope and TGB pushed him causing Flex to get his knee caught in the top rope. It looked good and TGB started the heat here with working on the knee. Flex tried a Gorilla slam at one point for a hope spot and then fell selling the knee. TGB used the figure four leglock and it got reversed. TGB hit an elbow from the top rope. TGB ended it by clipping Flex and a forward roll up for the win. No pop for the finish and for some reason they lost the crowd about ¾ into the bout. [**3/4]
----Flash Flanagan beat Albino Rhino by DQ to retain the TLCW Title. Albino was announced as TLCW champion twice during the show, but he isn’t the champion!! He stole the belt. Rhino has awesome theme music and comes out in full riot gear. Flash has good music also. Rhino comes off as a total big ass killer heel. I wrote “Bundy vs Hogan” in reference to this match in my notes. LOL Crowd was hard to get going in the bout. Flash took heat and made his “Flashamania” comeback BODYSLAMMING Albino and then hit a springboard legdrop from the end. But, then Alex Krisis jumped in with Dustin Starr making the save for Flash. [**3/4]
----Barbwire Match: “Hot Topic” [Derrick King/Stan Lee]/Dustin Starr beat “Black Label Society” [AJ Bradley/Robbie Douglas]/Tatt2. You surround the ring with barbwire and put 6 guys in the ring; what’ca going to expect other than a clusterfuck?? Believe me it wasn’t much to it when it comes to wrestling, but it was a wild bloody brawl that had great heat. Crowd was into every minute of it and that is saying a lot when it is past 11:00 PM and the show started at 5:30 PM. Everyone one bled except Starr. I think Robbie was the first to bled, but you couldn’t even tell it after the match. AJ bled good. Lee took a “Hotshot” into the barbwire. Lee’s arm was bleeding. Dustin brought a kendo stick in and hit everyone with it and got a huge pop. At one point Lee pitched Douglas over the top and then did a flip dive over the top to the floor. Tatt2 kicked out of almost every finish, which didn’t look good since he was piledrove, superkicked and even frogsplashed and didn’t lose. DK hit Douglas with a chair for the pin and win. [I think..it was crazy] At this point Tatt2 [who had not juiced yet] got on the mic and said they were ready to start the fight over. Heels jumped in and Tatt2 [photo above] ended up juicing with it squirting everywhere. [***3/4]
NOTES
----150+ in the crowd which must have been a disappointment to crew. If you go by paid numbers, the crowd was pretty much the same with a 40% increase in ticket prices…Starr got a huge babyface pop when he won the Horizon Star Award…Mike Sydal is the brother of Matt Sydal, who has worked for ROH and is under contract with the WWE now…If a fan gets up on the ring, then that fan should be thrown out the door. The reason being is that then another fan may try the same thing and think it is ok. It then could be a problem…If I just voted on awards for one night – Devon would be “Manager of the Year” just for the heat…Why would two guys have to cheat to beat one guy?? Poker could have lost clean and it would have not hurt him. Wayne putting the chair in the ring and getting out with just phony looking. All three guys worked very hard though…Cody Melton is easily going to be a star in this area. I always heard he had a bad attitude the first few months in the business, but nothing but good things from everyone I talked to now. This is not a knock on Kevin White and White would probably love the compliant, if Melton keeps improving he might be a better worker than his trainer…The lead singer of the band challenged Melton before Melton’s match and DK went over to tell him to not do that kind of stuff…William Gibson was throwing a fit after the tag title match in the ring and the look on DK’s face was hilarious. It was like, “WTF??” LOL…It was 10:00 PM when the Flex vs TGB bout was starting, so that might have been why the crowd was dead?? And also later for the Flash vs Albino bout…Flash/Starr vs Albino/Krisis next week…Most of the guys in the Barbwire didn’t think much of the bout, but if you were sitting in the crowd the heat was tremendous and some of the spots and blood in the match put it at least a [*] better than anything on the show…Two barbwire matches for Starr – not a lot of blood in the first one and zero in the second one…The Commercial Appeal was there doing a story on the show…6 hour show including the awards, Just way too long!!...It would be hard pressed for me to vote this group as Promotion of the Year again this year so far, but it does have a lot of candidates for awards – Most Improved [Albino], Rookie [Robbie Douglas front runner with Cody Melton and Greg King JR], Performer [Stan or AJ], Gimmick [Malkavain], Tag Team [BLS] and still has five of the best overall workers in the area [TGB/DK/Flash/Stan/AJ]…Dustin Starr gave the NBW Tag Team Title back to Allen Walker. [photo below]...Thanks to Tim and the whole crew at TLCW. I had a great time and thanks for putting over the awards, even though they were in WOODEN frames. LOL
Photos by Kayte Tramel
VOICE YOUR OPINION ABOUT MAYHEM ON THE KAYFABE BOARD!!
CHECK OUT MAYHEM 2007 ARENA REPORT!!!
----Mark Sterling beat Mike Sydal. Not a great match, but this was Sydal’s 10th match, so what can you expect. Sterling tried, but didn’t get much out of him. Good psychology and Sydal has some great facial expressions. Sydal did a standing moonsault at one point. He also did the Tajri springboard off the ropes spot, but then fell between the top and middle rope on the other side of the ring. It looked nasty, but he was ok and Sterling started the heat. Sterling ended with a sharpshooter. [*1/2]
----Bishop with Rashard Devon beat Reggie B Fine. A lady fan tried to get in the ring after Devon and Bishop. She got up to the apron and almost in the ring. Not sure why they had such crazy heat, but that lady hated them. Perfect psychology and Bishop looked good. Fine is Fine with nothing special, but had a solid match. Bishop beat him with a chain. [**]
----Gauntlet Match for Cruiserweight Title: Match started with “Rockin” Randy vs Gaylon Ray. Randy pinned Ray. Enter Shannon Lee – Randy pins Lee. Enter Erik Hayes – Hayes misses a moonsault [yes, his big ass did a pretty moonsault] – Randy pins Hayes. Enter Chris Rocker – Rocker twists his knee and goes to the dressing room. Enter Slim Pickens – real good exchange from these two – Randy pinned him with a superkick. Enter Greg King JR [kid throws a pretty dropkick!!] – Randy pins King after King does a flying press from the top rope and Randy rolls with it into a pin. Enter Baron Malkavain. Great pop for him and it was good while it lasted. After a ref bump [Kaleb] , Rocker entered the ring again with a chair and heel ref William Gibson. Rocker hit Malkavain HARD with a chair and ended up pinning Randy for the win. Randy was the work horse here and worked very hard. I didn’t like the finish, but overall the match was good. [***]
----Bishop with Rashard Devon beat Ike Tucker in less than a minute. Nothing wrong, but just a quick squash. [DUD]
----“3G” Eric Wayne/Kid Nikels beat Pokerface in a Handicap Best 2 out of 3 Falls match. Poker came out to announce that Rude had a family emergency in Missouri and could not make it. I was wishing they found Poker a partner, but these three guys worked this bout with perfect smart psychology. First fall got Poker DQed when he used a chair on Kid Nikels. Nikels went to the back with a hurt knee when Poker slammed the chair on it. Poker vs Wayne was good. Second fall came out of nowhere with Poker beating Wayne. Poker had the Texas Cloverleaf on Wayne and Nikels returned breaking it up. It ended up with Poker putting the Cloverleaf on Nikels. Just before that Wayne entered the ring and just set a chair up and then got out of the ring. When Poker put the hold on Nikels, then Wayne ran back in and slammed Poker’s head out of the hold onto the chair for Poker to lose the third fall. [**3/4]
----Chris O’Neal/Drew Donavon beat Cody Melton/Dell Tucker to retain the TLCW Tag Team Titles. Cody comes off as a natural heel. Melton did the old Lawler bump from over the ropes hitting his head on the ring apron after being closelined. Real good bout and could have easily been match of the night, if only O’Neal would have had a good partner. Tucker is still one of my favorite undercard guys. Tucker and Melton worked their asses off and Melton looked 10 times better than the last time I seen him. O’Neal was on also and took the heat for the team. Hot tag to Drew and it turned into a clusterfuck. It was like Donavon had no idea what to do and he got all tangled up with both Tucker/Melton and he shouldn’t have. Heels got the pin, but Bill Rush restarted the match and punched ref William Gibson. Huge POP when O’Neal/Drew won!! [**3/4]
----“The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony beat his “Mystery Opponent” Flex. Flex got a huge pop coming out. Good solid match. Some comedy spots in the start with TGB slapping Flex a couple of times and then Flex spitting water on TGB. Flex was ready to jump from the second rope and TGB pushed him causing Flex to get his knee caught in the top rope. It looked good and TGB started the heat here with working on the knee. Flex tried a Gorilla slam at one point for a hope spot and then fell selling the knee. TGB used the figure four leglock and it got reversed. TGB hit an elbow from the top rope. TGB ended it by clipping Flex and a forward roll up for the win. No pop for the finish and for some reason they lost the crowd about ¾ into the bout. [**3/4]
----Flash Flanagan beat Albino Rhino by DQ to retain the TLCW Title. Albino was announced as TLCW champion twice during the show, but he isn’t the champion!! He stole the belt. Rhino has awesome theme music and comes out in full riot gear. Flash has good music also. Rhino comes off as a total big ass killer heel. I wrote “Bundy vs Hogan” in reference to this match in my notes. LOL Crowd was hard to get going in the bout. Flash took heat and made his “Flashamania” comeback BODYSLAMMING Albino and then hit a springboard legdrop from the end. But, then Alex Krisis jumped in with Dustin Starr making the save for Flash. [**3/4]
----Barbwire Match: “Hot Topic” [Derrick King/Stan Lee]/Dustin Starr beat “Black Label Society” [AJ Bradley/Robbie Douglas]/Tatt2. You surround the ring with barbwire and put 6 guys in the ring; what’ca going to expect other than a clusterfuck?? Believe me it wasn’t much to it when it comes to wrestling, but it was a wild bloody brawl that had great heat. Crowd was into every minute of it and that is saying a lot when it is past 11:00 PM and the show started at 5:30 PM. Everyone one bled except Starr. I think Robbie was the first to bled, but you couldn’t even tell it after the match. AJ bled good. Lee took a “Hotshot” into the barbwire. Lee’s arm was bleeding. Dustin brought a kendo stick in and hit everyone with it and got a huge pop. At one point Lee pitched Douglas over the top and then did a flip dive over the top to the floor. Tatt2 kicked out of almost every finish, which didn’t look good since he was piledrove, superkicked and even frogsplashed and didn’t lose. DK hit Douglas with a chair for the pin and win. [I think..it was crazy] At this point Tatt2 [who had not juiced yet] got on the mic and said they were ready to start the fight over. Heels jumped in and Tatt2 [photo above] ended up juicing with it squirting everywhere. [***3/4]
NOTES
----150+ in the crowd which must have been a disappointment to crew. If you go by paid numbers, the crowd was pretty much the same with a 40% increase in ticket prices…Starr got a huge babyface pop when he won the Horizon Star Award…Mike Sydal is the brother of Matt Sydal, who has worked for ROH and is under contract with the WWE now…If a fan gets up on the ring, then that fan should be thrown out the door. The reason being is that then another fan may try the same thing and think it is ok. It then could be a problem…If I just voted on awards for one night – Devon would be “Manager of the Year” just for the heat…Why would two guys have to cheat to beat one guy?? Poker could have lost clean and it would have not hurt him. Wayne putting the chair in the ring and getting out with just phony looking. All three guys worked very hard though…Cody Melton is easily going to be a star in this area. I always heard he had a bad attitude the first few months in the business, but nothing but good things from everyone I talked to now. This is not a knock on Kevin White and White would probably love the compliant, if Melton keeps improving he might be a better worker than his trainer…The lead singer of the band challenged Melton before Melton’s match and DK went over to tell him to not do that kind of stuff…William Gibson was throwing a fit after the tag title match in the ring and the look on DK’s face was hilarious. It was like, “WTF??” LOL…It was 10:00 PM when the Flex vs TGB bout was starting, so that might have been why the crowd was dead?? And also later for the Flash vs Albino bout…Flash/Starr vs Albino/Krisis next week…Most of the guys in the Barbwire didn’t think much of the bout, but if you were sitting in the crowd the heat was tremendous and some of the spots and blood in the match put it at least a [*] better than anything on the show…Two barbwire matches for Starr – not a lot of blood in the first one and zero in the second one…The Commercial Appeal was there doing a story on the show…6 hour show including the awards, Just way too long!!...It would be hard pressed for me to vote this group as Promotion of the Year again this year so far, but it does have a lot of candidates for awards – Most Improved [Albino], Rookie [Robbie Douglas front runner with Cody Melton and Greg King JR], Performer [Stan or AJ], Gimmick [Malkavain], Tag Team [BLS] and still has five of the best overall workers in the area [TGB/DK/Flash/Stan/AJ]…Dustin Starr gave the NBW Tag Team Title back to Allen Walker. [photo below]...Thanks to Tim and the whole crew at TLCW. I had a great time and thanks for putting over the awards, even though they were in WOODEN frames. LOL
Photos by Kayte Tramel
VOICE YOUR OPINION ABOUT MAYHEM ON THE KAYFABE BOARD!!
CHECK OUT MAYHEM 2007 ARENA REPORT!!!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Showtime All Star Wrestling - Episode 44
Showtime Allstar Wrestling – Episode 44
Airing May 10, 2008 on ION Network affiliate WNPX 28 in Nashville
Michael St. John and Reno Riggins were at ringside to open the show. Riggins said the close of last week’s show was like nothing he had seen in his 22 years in the business. St. John said they kept the cameras rolling and that footage was coming up. This week’s main event: a match for the SAW Television Title between Damian Adams and Chrisjen Hayme. Riggins said that as matchmaker, his job was to give fans the matches they wanted to see, and Hayme had earned the number one contender spot. They hyped the debut of the 295 pound monster Chris Carnage.
They aired a replay of the backstage melee between Boogie Nation and A-Team, and most of the wild postmatch brawl.
St. John said they were going to the never-before-seen footage. It revealed that there was an immediate power outage when the show went off the air. The building stayed dark for over a minute. When power was restored, Boogie Woogie Boy and Arrick Andrews were both out cold in the middle of the ring. A posse of SAW officials came to their aid. Andrews was carried out. Boogie went out on a stretcher.
Putting two and two together, St. John noted that Miss Boogie chased Paul Adams to the back just before the lights went out, and he suspected Adams was behind the power outage. St. John said Boogie suffered a concussion and Andrews had bruised larynx. Both are out of action for an indefinite period of time.
(1) Drew Haskins beat C. M. Sigmon in 3:46. MSJ said Sigmon was from Las Vegas and had wrestled all over the world. (or at least the world of East Tennessee and Kentucky). Reno said when Haskins approached him about becoming a pro wrestler a year ago, the first thing he did was try to run him off. “That’s all we need is another kid running around town saying he’s going to be a professional wrestler. But he stuck with it.” Riggins agreed that Adams was the prime suspect in the power outage. Sigmon completely controlled the match. He hit a diving headbutt and wowed Reno and MSJ with his dropkick. Haskins surprised Sigmon with a slingshot sunset flip for the pin.
MSJ came to ringside to interview Haskins. A Team ran Haskins off. St. John said that was not nice. Paul Adams was hot about the accusations by MSJ and Riggins. Paul said they probably thought he was responsible for the crop circles, global warming and world hunger as well. MSJ questioned the other members of A Team regarding there activities when the lights were out. They all had alibis. Hammerjack said they beat up Boogie Nation for twenty minutes, so he got a little bored and left. MSJ turned to Hammerjack.
I was outta there, baby. I’m afraid of the dark…and clowns.
Santel said he and Hammerjack had a double date with the (Olsen) twins.
Kate is an alley cat…I’m gonna have her screaming “Ricky, kill me and save yourself! Kill me and save yourself!”
Paul said the important thing was they took care of the Indian and Boogie and Andrews were laid out and done for good. The fans could chant for Boogie Woogie Boy all they wanted. “These people in the front row talk about being part of Boogie Nation. When I look at this people, they’re so dirty and filthy; all I can think of is urination.” With that, Paul said James was going to pull the limo up because it was time to jet.
The bumper was a close up of Frank Malone and his icy blue-eyed expressionless stare as he walked down a dark, crowded street in downtown Nashville.
(2) Johnny Roacks beat Frank Malone (with Cody Malone) via DQ in 1:30. St. John joked about Malone being a serial killer. Riggins noted his ice blue eyes. Malone dwarfed Roacks, and the little guy could do nothing him with. Malone manhandled Roacks. Malone’s manager, his brother we were told, grabbed Roacks’ leg. Roacks made a move for Cody. Frank locked in his unnamed cobra clutch finisher. The ref ruled it a choke and DQed Frank. Frank then choked out the ref in about 2 seconds and tossed his limp body to the canvas. On his way out, Frank wrapped the ref’s hand around a pair of dice.
Assistant Commissioner Mike Sircy joined MSJ in the interview area. Sircy said that due what had just occurred between the A Team and Haskins, he was booking Haskins vs. a member of A Team in a singles match for next week. Sircy said the main reason he was there to address was Rob Roy McCoy. They showed the footage from last week in which McCoy refused to break the crossface chickenwing after Jamison tapped, and then the heinous chair usage into Jamison’s deformed hand. Sircy said that as a result, the SAW BOD was suspending McCoy indefinitely.
(3) Chris Carnage pinned Tatsu at 1:52 with the Carnage . Carnage was introed at 6-8 and 320 pounds, so that must have been quite the prematch meal. Whatever, the real numbers, he’s huge and stacked. Carnage overwhelmed Tatsu with power moves. His finisher is a torture rack into a falling neckbreaker.
They aired a video highlight preview package for the main event featuring SAW’s two high fliers, Television Champion Damian Adams and his challenger, “Best of the Best” Chrisjen Hayme.
(4) Damian Adams defeated Chisjen Hayme in 5:10 to retain the SAW Television Title. Damian is over as champ and they were vocal for him right from the opening bell. Hayme used a brawling style to take command, but nobody home on his elbow drop. Damian worked the arm, then used a drop toehold to set up an Oklahoma roll for a near fall. Hayme punished Damian for a telegraphed backdrop with a southpaw lariat for a two count. Hayme throttled Damian on the mat. Hayme with a big double underhook suplex, but no hook of the leg. When Damian elbowed out of a chinlock, Hayme slammed him down on the back of head. He hooked the leg on that one. Go figure. They traded strikes- some wicked stiff chops in there. Damian reversed a European uppercut with a backslide. Hayme countered a spinning headscissors into a facebuster and dropkicked Damian. No hook-kick out. Hook-kick out. Hayme did the “what do I need to do?” expression. He suplexed Damian and went for springboard moonsault. Nobody home. Damian agonizingly pulled himself up by the ropes for a great comeback that had Hayme reeling. Damian went for the kill with the bicycle kick, but Hayme had it scouted and hit the Blue Thunder Bomb. Hayme climbed up top for the 450. Damian avoided it. Bicycle kick. Bullseye. 1-2-3.
Closing Thoughts: It appeared they were stretching to have enough content for this episode, but I thought they made effective use of what they had. Bell-to-bell action was down to a TNA-like 13 minutes and they used a lot of footage from the previous week. Unlike TNA, the main event was the only one that would have benefited from more time. Based on Reno’s opening comments, the “luck of the draw” gimmick to determine title challengers has been quietly dropped. On the footage we didn’t see last week, I liked the lights out mystery as yet one more way for Boogie and Andrews to be left laying, but good lord, I’ve never seen a top babyface carried out as many times as Boogie. Sigmon is a talented addition to the SAW roster. No idea why the “C.M.” was added to his name this week. I think that one is taken. Sigmon is out of the Knoxville and the current champion for EWP. Haskins is OK as the green but scrappy babyface working his way up from the very bottom. He doesn’t have a wrestlers build, but I like him better than Colin Delaney. Haskins shows no natural star qualities at this stage, but it’s way too early to tell. So much has to come from burning desire. The A Team has a bizarre chemistry that works. The ringside interrogation was funny stuff. A clarification on the blood in the angle with Jamison last week: there was blood and somehow the cameras missed it. The clip of Malone on the dark street was great. Brief as it was, it really got across the strange, chilling nature of the character. The slow unfolding of the Malone story has been really well done. The viewers learned two new pieces of info - the identity of Malone’s manager and what it is that he sticks in his victim’s hand – left unexplained in his debut. If SAW looking for a monster to replace Raige, Carnage has the credentials. He’s not ripped like he was in HWA but a huge guy for sure. No telling heel or face leanings. Carnage was all business. The few moves he did looked impressive. Nice work by the SAW production department on the Hayme vs. Damian preview video. I should mention that the video quality of the entire show is beautiful these days, and I didn’t notice any of obvious gaffes with the graphics and such this week. Anyway, they did this fancy preview and gave the match only five minutes. True, they had no personal issue but in a perfect world, 7or 8 would have been nice because those guys can go. It was a totally solid back and forth match that told a good story -Hayme was unable to connect with his big aerial moves, and Adams was able to take everything else Hayme had. Damian’s first true test produced his best title match thus far. But the big one with McCoy is waiting in the wings. Damian hits that bicycle kick right on the button every single time.
Airing May 10, 2008 on ION Network affiliate WNPX 28 in Nashville
Michael St. John and Reno Riggins were at ringside to open the show. Riggins said the close of last week’s show was like nothing he had seen in his 22 years in the business. St. John said they kept the cameras rolling and that footage was coming up. This week’s main event: a match for the SAW Television Title between Damian Adams and Chrisjen Hayme. Riggins said that as matchmaker, his job was to give fans the matches they wanted to see, and Hayme had earned the number one contender spot. They hyped the debut of the 295 pound monster Chris Carnage.
They aired a replay of the backstage melee between Boogie Nation and A-Team, and most of the wild postmatch brawl.
St. John said they were going to the never-before-seen footage. It revealed that there was an immediate power outage when the show went off the air. The building stayed dark for over a minute. When power was restored, Boogie Woogie Boy and Arrick Andrews were both out cold in the middle of the ring. A posse of SAW officials came to their aid. Andrews was carried out. Boogie went out on a stretcher.
Putting two and two together, St. John noted that Miss Boogie chased Paul Adams to the back just before the lights went out, and he suspected Adams was behind the power outage. St. John said Boogie suffered a concussion and Andrews had bruised larynx. Both are out of action for an indefinite period of time.
(1) Drew Haskins beat C. M. Sigmon in 3:46. MSJ said Sigmon was from Las Vegas and had wrestled all over the world. (or at least the world of East Tennessee and Kentucky). Reno said when Haskins approached him about becoming a pro wrestler a year ago, the first thing he did was try to run him off. “That’s all we need is another kid running around town saying he’s going to be a professional wrestler. But he stuck with it.” Riggins agreed that Adams was the prime suspect in the power outage. Sigmon completely controlled the match. He hit a diving headbutt and wowed Reno and MSJ with his dropkick. Haskins surprised Sigmon with a slingshot sunset flip for the pin.
MSJ came to ringside to interview Haskins. A Team ran Haskins off. St. John said that was not nice. Paul Adams was hot about the accusations by MSJ and Riggins. Paul said they probably thought he was responsible for the crop circles, global warming and world hunger as well. MSJ questioned the other members of A Team regarding there activities when the lights were out. They all had alibis. Hammerjack said they beat up Boogie Nation for twenty minutes, so he got a little bored and left. MSJ turned to Hammerjack.
I was outta there, baby. I’m afraid of the dark…and clowns.
Santel said he and Hammerjack had a double date with the (Olsen) twins.
Kate is an alley cat…I’m gonna have her screaming “Ricky, kill me and save yourself! Kill me and save yourself!”
Paul said the important thing was they took care of the Indian and Boogie and Andrews were laid out and done for good. The fans could chant for Boogie Woogie Boy all they wanted. “These people in the front row talk about being part of Boogie Nation. When I look at this people, they’re so dirty and filthy; all I can think of is urination.” With that, Paul said James was going to pull the limo up because it was time to jet.
The bumper was a close up of Frank Malone and his icy blue-eyed expressionless stare as he walked down a dark, crowded street in downtown Nashville.
(2) Johnny Roacks beat Frank Malone (with Cody Malone) via DQ in 1:30. St. John joked about Malone being a serial killer. Riggins noted his ice blue eyes. Malone dwarfed Roacks, and the little guy could do nothing him with. Malone manhandled Roacks. Malone’s manager, his brother we were told, grabbed Roacks’ leg. Roacks made a move for Cody. Frank locked in his unnamed cobra clutch finisher. The ref ruled it a choke and DQed Frank. Frank then choked out the ref in about 2 seconds and tossed his limp body to the canvas. On his way out, Frank wrapped the ref’s hand around a pair of dice.
Assistant Commissioner Mike Sircy joined MSJ in the interview area. Sircy said that due what had just occurred between the A Team and Haskins, he was booking Haskins vs. a member of A Team in a singles match for next week. Sircy said the main reason he was there to address was Rob Roy McCoy. They showed the footage from last week in which McCoy refused to break the crossface chickenwing after Jamison tapped, and then the heinous chair usage into Jamison’s deformed hand. Sircy said that as a result, the SAW BOD was suspending McCoy indefinitely.
(3) Chris Carnage pinned Tatsu at 1:52 with the Carnage . Carnage was introed at 6-8 and 320 pounds, so that must have been quite the prematch meal. Whatever, the real numbers, he’s huge and stacked. Carnage overwhelmed Tatsu with power moves. His finisher is a torture rack into a falling neckbreaker.
They aired a video highlight preview package for the main event featuring SAW’s two high fliers, Television Champion Damian Adams and his challenger, “Best of the Best” Chrisjen Hayme.
(4) Damian Adams defeated Chisjen Hayme in 5:10 to retain the SAW Television Title. Damian is over as champ and they were vocal for him right from the opening bell. Hayme used a brawling style to take command, but nobody home on his elbow drop. Damian worked the arm, then used a drop toehold to set up an Oklahoma roll for a near fall. Hayme punished Damian for a telegraphed backdrop with a southpaw lariat for a two count. Hayme throttled Damian on the mat. Hayme with a big double underhook suplex, but no hook of the leg. When Damian elbowed out of a chinlock, Hayme slammed him down on the back of head. He hooked the leg on that one. Go figure. They traded strikes- some wicked stiff chops in there. Damian reversed a European uppercut with a backslide. Hayme countered a spinning headscissors into a facebuster and dropkicked Damian. No hook-kick out. Hook-kick out. Hayme did the “what do I need to do?” expression. He suplexed Damian and went for springboard moonsault. Nobody home. Damian agonizingly pulled himself up by the ropes for a great comeback that had Hayme reeling. Damian went for the kill with the bicycle kick, but Hayme had it scouted and hit the Blue Thunder Bomb. Hayme climbed up top for the 450. Damian avoided it. Bicycle kick. Bullseye. 1-2-3.
Closing Thoughts: It appeared they were stretching to have enough content for this episode, but I thought they made effective use of what they had. Bell-to-bell action was down to a TNA-like 13 minutes and they used a lot of footage from the previous week. Unlike TNA, the main event was the only one that would have benefited from more time. Based on Reno’s opening comments, the “luck of the draw” gimmick to determine title challengers has been quietly dropped. On the footage we didn’t see last week, I liked the lights out mystery as yet one more way for Boogie and Andrews to be left laying, but good lord, I’ve never seen a top babyface carried out as many times as Boogie. Sigmon is a talented addition to the SAW roster. No idea why the “C.M.” was added to his name this week. I think that one is taken. Sigmon is out of the Knoxville and the current champion for EWP. Haskins is OK as the green but scrappy babyface working his way up from the very bottom. He doesn’t have a wrestlers build, but I like him better than Colin Delaney. Haskins shows no natural star qualities at this stage, but it’s way too early to tell. So much has to come from burning desire. The A Team has a bizarre chemistry that works. The ringside interrogation was funny stuff. A clarification on the blood in the angle with Jamison last week: there was blood and somehow the cameras missed it. The clip of Malone on the dark street was great. Brief as it was, it really got across the strange, chilling nature of the character. The slow unfolding of the Malone story has been really well done. The viewers learned two new pieces of info - the identity of Malone’s manager and what it is that he sticks in his victim’s hand – left unexplained in his debut. If SAW looking for a monster to replace Raige, Carnage has the credentials. He’s not ripped like he was in HWA but a huge guy for sure. No telling heel or face leanings. Carnage was all business. The few moves he did looked impressive. Nice work by the SAW production department on the Hayme vs. Damian preview video. I should mention that the video quality of the entire show is beautiful these days, and I didn’t notice any of obvious gaffes with the graphics and such this week. Anyway, they did this fancy preview and gave the match only five minutes. True, they had no personal issue but in a perfect world, 7or 8 would have been nice because those guys can go. It was a totally solid back and forth match that told a good story -Hayme was unable to connect with his big aerial moves, and Adams was able to take everything else Hayme had. Damian’s first true test produced his best title match thus far. But the big one with McCoy is waiting in the wings. Damian hits that bicycle kick right on the button every single time.
Memorial Day!!
----I hope everyone had a safe Memorial Day weekend. I pretty much took the day off to spend time with family. We will have a big day tomorrow with the TLCW "Mayhem" Arena Report, Full NBW results with two returnees and a new commish and ASWF results. Thanks to everyone for visiting and enjoy rest of your day off!!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Why is it So Hard to Believe a Former Wrestler Doesn’t Want to Wrestle by Sal Corrente
I find it sad that I have to write something about the false advertising that takes place on the independent wrestling scene these days. This week it was brought to my attention that some shows that were scheduled for May 23rd and 24th in South Carolina were advertising Stan Lane (to team with Bobby Eaton) and Jimmy Hart. I spoke with Stan and I spoke with Jimmy. In Stan’s case he has no knowledge of anything. In Jimmy’s he had spoken with the promoter one time and NEVER committed to being there. I also spoke to Bobby Eaton who said Sal this happens a lot when I am booked I have no idea if the promoter has spoken to Dennis or Stan. In conversation Bobby said that he just shows up to do his job. In the case of Bobby Eaton he is still an active competitor and wants to wrestle.
I spoke with the promoter [Matt Holder] and advised him that Stan Lane was retired and had no desire to wrestle on any show. It is true that, in the case of many wrestlers, the word retirement is used to describe down time between shows. In the case of Stan Lane, who was lucky enough to have been trained and broken into the business by “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, retirement means not going to hang out at your old job. Stan also enjoyed success being a part of tag teams like The Midnight Express, The Fabulous Ones and The Heavenly Bodies. Stan had the intelligence and foresite to save his money so he doesn’t have to do things today that he doesn’t want to do.
I met Stan for the first time in April of 1988 when I was working for Jim Crockett. I worked with The Midnights several times and they were always easy matches. When Stan left WCW I started booking him on some shows and we hit it off. In the days since he has left wrestling he has made few appearences. I used all of my influence to get him out of retirement to team up with Steve Keirn in Memphis and to appear at WrestleReunion. When WrestleReunion was developed, the idea was to give fans something that they couldn’t see on every other independent show. As the idea was being developed, and always being a fan of the Midnight Express, I wanted to team them up in some six man tag matches. I was blessed to be able to do that and have some great matches to show for it. I was involved in The Midnight Express and Jim Cornette vs The Fantastics and The Rock and Roll Express, Dory and Terry Funk along with Mick Foley , The Armstrongs and Dusty Rhodes and The Rock and Roll Express.
In the case of many of these matches, being able to put them together was because they were special events. I can tell you, as time goes by, it is going to be much harder to get Stan Lane to do anything. Of all the talent that I got to appear at WrestleReunion the hardest one to convince to participate in the actual matches was Stan Lane. I had to rely on a long standing friendship and real creative idea’s to convince Stan to do it. If you ask him he will tell you he is retired. I can tell you several WrestleReunion stars started off the conversation with "I am retired". I guess that I can be quite persuasive since they didn’t stay retired. In the case of most Stan Lane he hasn’t wrestled since our World Wrestling Legends PPV. He will make an occasional autograph show appearance other than that assume that he truly is retired.
The wrestling business does have people in and out of retirement quite often. Most people can’t get it out of their blood or they have a huge financial need. In Stan’s case he walked away with a clear mind and a healthy body. You would think that people would applaud him and let him enjoy his life in retirement. The truth is he could probably be convinced to appear on some shows but from what he has seen of the independent wrestling scene he does not want to bastardize himself by appearing on events that are not run by promoters he feel are credible.
If you find any other version of The Midnight Express other than Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey advertised on the local independent scene the promoter is guilty of FALSE ADVERTISING so before warned and beware.
By
“The Big Cheese” Sal Corrente
I spoke with the promoter [Matt Holder] and advised him that Stan Lane was retired and had no desire to wrestle on any show. It is true that, in the case of many wrestlers, the word retirement is used to describe down time between shows. In the case of Stan Lane, who was lucky enough to have been trained and broken into the business by “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, retirement means not going to hang out at your old job. Stan also enjoyed success being a part of tag teams like The Midnight Express, The Fabulous Ones and The Heavenly Bodies. Stan had the intelligence and foresite to save his money so he doesn’t have to do things today that he doesn’t want to do.
I met Stan for the first time in April of 1988 when I was working for Jim Crockett. I worked with The Midnights several times and they were always easy matches. When Stan left WCW I started booking him on some shows and we hit it off. In the days since he has left wrestling he has made few appearences. I used all of my influence to get him out of retirement to team up with Steve Keirn in Memphis and to appear at WrestleReunion. When WrestleReunion was developed, the idea was to give fans something that they couldn’t see on every other independent show. As the idea was being developed, and always being a fan of the Midnight Express, I wanted to team them up in some six man tag matches. I was blessed to be able to do that and have some great matches to show for it. I was involved in The Midnight Express and Jim Cornette vs The Fantastics and The Rock and Roll Express, Dory and Terry Funk along with Mick Foley , The Armstrongs and Dusty Rhodes and The Rock and Roll Express.
In the case of many of these matches, being able to put them together was because they were special events. I can tell you, as time goes by, it is going to be much harder to get Stan Lane to do anything. Of all the talent that I got to appear at WrestleReunion the hardest one to convince to participate in the actual matches was Stan Lane. I had to rely on a long standing friendship and real creative idea’s to convince Stan to do it. If you ask him he will tell you he is retired. I can tell you several WrestleReunion stars started off the conversation with "I am retired". I guess that I can be quite persuasive since they didn’t stay retired. In the case of most Stan Lane he hasn’t wrestled since our World Wrestling Legends PPV. He will make an occasional autograph show appearance other than that assume that he truly is retired.
The wrestling business does have people in and out of retirement quite often. Most people can’t get it out of their blood or they have a huge financial need. In Stan’s case he walked away with a clear mind and a healthy body. You would think that people would applaud him and let him enjoy his life in retirement. The truth is he could probably be convinced to appear on some shows but from what he has seen of the independent wrestling scene he does not want to bastardize himself by appearing on events that are not run by promoters he feel are credible.
If you find any other version of The Midnight Express other than Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey advertised on the local independent scene the promoter is guilty of FALSE ADVERTISING so before warned and beware.
By
“The Big Cheese” Sal Corrente
RassleResults: TIWF Trenton, TN 5.24.08
X3 (Steven Rampage/OZ) w/ Ravishing Randy def. Dre Black/Boogeyman Scream.
Outlaw def. Spyder
Chico Mendoza won by DQ after Moondog Rover hit Chico with his signature bone.
TIWF TV TITLE:
Vic McNasty def. Dazzlin Dixie
(Dixie did a nasty looking Samoan Drop on Vic and the Ref got knocked down, Dixie pinned Vic for 10 count. Then Dixie went to grab the ref to pull him to make the count, that is when Vic hit him with the chain and pulled his tights to secure the victory.)
HARDCORE HEAVEN MATCH:
Criss Braggs pinned Big Boy Bob after Bob missed a Swanton Bomb into over 2000 tacks in the ring. During this match they used Signs, chairs, kendo stick, barbed wire, tacks....etc Braggs bled profusely after a nasty piledriver from Bob.
TIWF REGIONAL TITLE MATCH:
Danny B Goode def. Izzy Rotten w/Diamond
(Danny B, got the Title belt back after Izzy had stolen it the past 2 weeks.)
----111 in the crowd.
Credit: Robert Haley
Outlaw def. Spyder
Chico Mendoza won by DQ after Moondog Rover hit Chico with his signature bone.
TIWF TV TITLE:
Vic McNasty def. Dazzlin Dixie
(Dixie did a nasty looking Samoan Drop on Vic and the Ref got knocked down, Dixie pinned Vic for 10 count. Then Dixie went to grab the ref to pull him to make the count, that is when Vic hit him with the chain and pulled his tights to secure the victory.)
HARDCORE HEAVEN MATCH:
Criss Braggs pinned Big Boy Bob after Bob missed a Swanton Bomb into over 2000 tacks in the ring. During this match they used Signs, chairs, kendo stick, barbed wire, tacks....etc Braggs bled profusely after a nasty piledriver from Bob.
TIWF REGIONAL TITLE MATCH:
Danny B Goode def. Izzy Rotten w/Diamond
(Danny B, got the Title belt back after Izzy had stolen it the past 2 weeks.)
----111 in the crowd.
Credit: Robert Haley
RassleResults: Memphis Wrestling Coffeeville, MS 5.24.08
1st Match was Cameron Valentine vs The Grappler Cameron Valentine Winner
2nd Match The Gladiator with Hollywood Jimmy vs Ty Hamilton The Gladiator winner of the match. Ty was very impressive and the match was good from start to end. You will seeing more of Ty around the area,he’s very impressive and the fans really like this guy.
3rd Match Jerry Lawler W/ Grady Watson v s Kevin White w/ Sue Young & Gary White The announcer was introducing JL and KW when Hollywood Jimmy came out with Brody Hawk fussing about they should have beenin the 3rd match but Brian lied when he called in and said he was in a car wreck due to heavy rain and was unable to be there. Hollywood said that was nothing but a big lie and the real truth is that Brian Christopher was a Chicken and running scared because of his opponent Brody Hawk was going to hurt him that night. Hollywood said that Brody Hawk was undefeated and if the referee didn’t declare Brody the winner and raise Brody’s hand there would be no more wrestling that night. Referee Tony Watts came out of the ring to raise Brodys hand for the victory over Brian Christopher.
Jerry Lawler was in control of most of the match with Kevin until Sue Young and Gary White jumped in but then Grady Watson came in and jumped on Gary White . Jerry Lawler then piledrived Kevin then Brody and Hollywood interfered and started beating on Jerry Lawler. Then out came Cameron Valentine to help out. Lawler then challenged Brody Hawk and Kevin White for another match with him and Valentine.
Main Event Jerry Lawler and Valentine vs. Brody Hawk and Kevin White
Jerry Lawler pinned the undefeated ( now defeated) Brody Hawk for the win ( Bet Jimmy will continue to say he's undefeated, lol)
Crowd was loud all night long and the crowd was about 175
Credit : Rich @ www.wrestlingnewcenter.com
----Any news on the Brian Christopher wreck?? Was it shoot or were they working the crowd...I love the photo posted!! Great pic Tia!!
WWCW DEBUT A FLOP!!
----There were only 30 people in the crowd and the talent was told that they could leave, because their would not be any money. Dingo, MsChief, Ms Natural, Davey Richards, Neal Dream and others left. The guys that stayed were "High Rollers" [Wykid/Storm] with Marcus Dice, "The Aslyum" [Psycho/Pappy/Arnez], Neveah Lyn, Moondog Rex, Ali Stevens [did autographs, but did not work], Rod Dent III [did not work], Tony Diamond, Rex Romanov and Al Snow w/ Head vs. Anthony Bravado went off without a hitch.
RassleResults: USWO/ATL Nashville, TN
White Tiger b Intern
Richard Lowe (w/Boy) b Shawn Hoodrich
Dyronic b Boy (w/Richard Lowe)
Little Booger (w/Charming Charles) b White Tiger by DQ when Booger grabbed Charles' cane and pitched it to Tiger and dropped to the mat as ref Mark Owen turned around
Damien Payne b Chris Norte by DQ when Lee Cross interfered
LT Falk b Bruno Davis
Lee Cross & Chris Norte b New York Gangster & Tommy Capone to win the ATL Tag Team Championship when Norte pinned Capone.
----Attendance 71
Credit: Jimmie Daniel
Richard Lowe (w/Boy) b Shawn Hoodrich
Dyronic b Boy (w/Richard Lowe)
Little Booger (w/Charming Charles) b White Tiger by DQ when Booger grabbed Charles' cane and pitched it to Tiger and dropped to the mat as ref Mark Owen turned around
Damien Payne b Chris Norte by DQ when Lee Cross interfered
LT Falk b Bruno Davis
Lee Cross & Chris Norte b New York Gangster & Tommy Capone to win the ATL Tag Team Championship when Norte pinned Capone.
----Attendance 71
Credit: Jimmie Daniel
Corey and Lawler Talk About The Move Of Memphis Wrestling
----At the end of the encore Memphis Wrestling show that aired last night, Corey Maclin and Jerry Lawler made reference to this being the last time that Memphis Wrestling would air with anything taped from that studio. Lawler then stated that WWE Smackdown would be getting a new home and also Memphis Wrestling would be getting one. Lawler did not state it would be MyNetworkTV affiliate WPXX Channel 50 as we mentioned early today on the site. But, with him making reference to Smackdown being moved and it will be moved to Channel 50, then it was almost him telling the fans where it was going to be. Lawler also said it is a possibility that the show may air again at 11:00 AM on Saturday morning. Corey and him went on to say there would be a few special shows coming up and Corey even said that the Autozone park show was going to be filmed by Channel 30, so I have no idea where that is going.
Jerkin' The Curtain NWA Main Event & SAW TV reviews Monday May 26th @ 10 PM CST
Well, Tommy Stewart sez his TiVo is now fit as a fiddle and ready for love, so with that in mind, listen into Jerkin' The Curtain this coming Monday night, May 26th at 10 PM Central time as Tommy and I review and recap the NWA Main Event and SAW TV shows that aired on May 24th on Ion in Nashville at 8 am and noon. We'll give our opinion of what happened on each show, and declare a "winner" for the week. Check it out live Monday night, or check out the archive later. Trent Van Drisse
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tvd
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tvd
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)