----Not sure how you categorize a show that goes 4 hours with over 10 matches with more drama backstage [CLICK HERE to read story] and surrounding the show than the actual show it’s self. Overall the show was not good. Too long with some storylines that made you ask “why” more than say “wow”. All and all it was an eventful night and I was happy that RRO was there to cover it. As I was walking into the dressing after the main event, I was told “We were just talking about how lucky you were to be here tonight.” Funny at that point of the evening I was glad I was there for the scoop, but about to pull rest of my hair out because of the show. I think I will not do the show justice if I don’t cover the whole package here – the gossip, the news and my opinion.
THE GOSSIP
----Earlier in the week I got a call that NBW was tearing down posters of the DCW show and replacing them with their own posters. Sandra Walker, who is the boss lady of DCW, and Jeff McDonald of NBW [owner] are brother/sister. The split that made DCW the show in Dyersburg and the NBW moving to Newbern , TN has caused bad feeling that go deeper than just a wrestling show. Each promotion had their own story and unless I was actually there, then I am not sure what happened, but here is how it goes from both sides. Jeremy Moore found a poster covered up of NBW, so in return covered the DCW up with one of his posters. He then did the same thing at the local Hastings [I actually seen the NBW poster folded up behind the DCW poster there] because they had done the same thing to him. DCW says NBW were just tearing down posters and replacing them with NBW. Maybe they were or maybe not?? As I said, I was not there, but Moore did admit to doing the two incidents above and as I said – this goes deeper than just wrestling. I was asked to do an interview with Sandra at the show, but after everything that was going on I never got the opportunity to do so. I also had decided driving to the show that I felt this site would not really benefit from a family feud of sorts and I would just present the allegations.
----The main event of the evening was supposed to be the showdown of Kilo vs Derrick King. Kilo was a no show. I talked with various people on this and it seems that Kilo was having some personal problems and he asked for some time off to fix them. Apparently sometime this week he had posted on his myspace.com about him fixing his marriage, but as of this morning it states, "happily married going on 11 years", so I hope all is cleared up and we will see Kilo back in the ring soon.
----Allen Walker walked out and showed up at NBW. Walker was asked to take bumps in the Brian Christopher vs Seth Knight bout due to the fact they have been running an angle with Walker costing Knight matches. The set up was supposed to be Brian beating up Walker [instead of the ref] and turning him babyface for a future show. Apparently he didn’t want to do it and Derrick King had some choice words for him. He ended up walking out and showed up later at NBW looking for a job.
NEWS
----“Naughty by Nature” [Rude/Tully] opened the show by defeating “Black Label Society” [AJ Bradley/Robbie Douglas] in a quick bout where announcer Richard Marx put over the fact that it was 2007 Tag Team of the Year [actually MVP Tag Team of the Year] vs 2008 Tag Team of the Year. Basic hold for hold with Douglas finally putting BLS in the heel role. Heat was on Tully with hot tag to Rude. Tully shitcanned Robbie. They used the 3-D on AJ for the pin and win. Nothing real bad, nothing real good. [**]
----Weezy/Rockin Randy beat Big Red/Tim Edwards to become the new DCW Tag Team Champions in Tourny Final. Both teams were pretty much heel with Edwards/Red settling down in the heel role putting heat on Weezy. Nothing wrong with the bout, but it didn’t come off as being “special” even though it was a tag title bout. Red/Edwards are so much bigger than Weezy/Randy also. Randy took a crazy bump from a Red backdrop sending him over the top rope to the floor. Smart finish as they went back to a hot tag from Randy with Red backdropping him again over the rope, but Randy catching himself on the ring apron. Edwards was going for the “redrum” and Weezy was holding onto the ropes as Randy superkicked him for the pin and win. [**]
----Flash Flanagan beat Flex. Flex got a good reaction. Slow bout with total perfect psychology. Flex hasn’t been in the ring a lot and looked a bit slow, but Flash did a good job carrying the bout. Flex hit a nice powerslam with Flash coming out of the turnbuckle. Heat on Flex with hope spots here and there. Crowd was into the bout. Flex hit a FU catching Flash out of turnbuckle leap. Near fall. Flex hit a flying press off the ropes, which Flash rolled into landing into the ropes [ref not seeing] as he pinned Flex. [**]
----At this point in the show, the wrestling was good with nothing special happening. Just your basic psychology and it all seem to be building for something big. It really never did pay off. The wrestling did get a little better after the next bout, but with the show running so late, the crowd was lackluster. It was 9:20 PM [started at 8:00] and the 4th match was about to start.
----The rapper that sings Rashard Devon’s theme song came out and rapped a sizong. He then went backstage and came back out with Devon for the next bout. Rashard Devon beat Richard Marx in a horrible bout. Ok..so I guess it was not so bad for a manager and a ring announcer. The funny thing was that the crowd was into it from almost the start. Heat started when it looked like Marx had pulled his groin or something. Marx had some bad punches. After a ref bump [which looked horrible] Coco aka Antonio Anderson in drag jumped out of the crowd to help Marx. Coco hit a nice big boot. Bishop ended up knocking Marx down and putting Rashard on him for the win. Chris Rocker made the save after the bout. Both guys were working hard, but overall it was a horrible match. But….crowd got into Marx and Rashard keeps his heat. [DUD]
----Motley Cruz beat Justin Smart. Another so so bout with not anything major wrong, except an attempt arm drag that went wrong at the front. Heat on Smart with Smart coming out hitting a blockbuster, but Cruz kicking out. Smart went for a “Sliced Bread #2”, but Cruz reversed it into a driver for the win. [**]
----At this point it is 10:20 PM and the crowd is ready for the 6th bout. Who would have thought that Seth Knight and Brian Christopher would come out and have the best bout of the night??
---- Seth Knight beat Brian Christopher. Christopher, who is usually a big babyface in this area, came out to a decent pop. Within 30 seconds of having the mic though he was a heel. He said something about being in Ripley , TN [which he blamed on the ho that brought him to the show] He then called Seth – “Joseph”, which I guess is because he didn’t know his name. It started out a slow pace – doing variations of the “ Tennessee spot” back and forth. Bout was solid and crowd was into it. Brian had his working shoes on. Brian was hiding the chain [Ghost of Don Bass] and using it to keep the heat going. Knight moved out of the way as Brian was running into the corner and Brian went straddling the second turnbuckle. [Ghost of Reggie B Fine]. Seth had decent comeback doing the 10 punch spot out of the corner. Brian went to use the chain again, but the ref caught him and then Seth rolled him up for the win and a big pop. Brain C sit in the ring crying about losing and beat up the ref after the match. CLICK HERE to read story. [***1/4]
----Dustin Starr with Jimmy Tidewell beat The “Baron” Malkavain with Angelina in a Coffin Match. Starr was clearly a heel, but got a “star” reaction coming out. The fans here look at him as a step above some of the established talent and give him respect. Malkavain also got a nice pop coming out and the fans like him. This was not a wrestling match - just pretty much a brawl at first going into the crowd and then them working on spots towards the coffin. Malkavain took a nasty bump as Starr backdropped him over the top rope and he fell onto the coffin [it was ringside on a table] and he bump to the floor. The coffin then flipped over onto him and it was lucky it landed almost perfect on him. Starr had him almost beat at this point, but Baron spit blood in Starr’s face. The coffin took a horrible beating ending up in six parts with them doing different spots with it. Finish could be seen a mile away as Angelina turned on the Baron and went back to Starr nut shotting him and Starr putting him in the coffin. Starr left with Angelina in his arms. Not a great WRESTLING match, but with reactions, storyline and crazy brawling bumps, this was the second best bout on the show. [***]
----Chris Rocker beat Bishop with Rashard Devon to become the new DCW Champion. This was a No DQ match with solid work from everyone, but at 11:20 PM the crowd was almost half gone. Creative finish with Rashard bringing in a fish bowl and Bishop put Rocker’s hand in it. Rashard was going to use the tazer on Rocker, but Rocker reversed it sending the water all over Rashard and Rashard selling the shocking. Rocker hit a frog splash to pin Bishop for the win. [**]
----Main event goes into the ring at 11:35 PM with all the action going on behind the scenes with Bishop/Brian C. This was really overall three matches, but more of an extended storyline/angle.
-Kilo’s music played, but Kilo never came out. Shannon Lee came out to a big pop. Lee worked his ass off and looked good. 3 minutes into it, DK wins with a superkick.
-Tatt2 then comes out to work DK. Good solid bout going longer. DK worked on Tatt2’s leg. Tatt2 comeback with DK ending up pinning Tatt2,
-DK announces he is “three time Wrestler of the Year and no one can beat him” and then Seth Knight’s music plays. Knight comes in on fire. Dustin Starr comes out and tries to interfere and it backfires as Knight pins DK for the win. The 50% of the crowd left went home happy!!
[***] for the whole three bouts and presentation. This was a good push for Knight putting him in the spotlight as the top babyface beating Christopher and DK. They teased Starr/DK split, but they hugged at the end. Time 11:59 PM.
NOTES
----Rude was just coming off hip surgery and Robbie Douglas had various injuries from his MMA debut loss. I was told he didn’t look bad against an experience fighter, but ended up hurting his wrist and muscles in his back…Brian Steele did announcing some of the night and did a good job…Why was Coco in a dress?? Rashard/Marx was really bad, but probably had the most reaction up to that point of the show. Crowd was dead after the bout during the Cruz/Smart bout… Former LAW founder with Brian Thompson/Jeff O’Dell - Kelly Warner was backstage and I had long talk with him. I should have an update on his story within a few weeks…The “Ghost” references is just me trying to get over a move like the “Ghost of Andy Kaufman”, but I am being told by reliable sources that you can only name a move “Ghost” if the guy is dead. Sorry…It really didn’t make sense to me that Brian C beat up the ref after the match and apparently no one told TJ he was going to do it either. But, if Allen Walker would have done as he was asked, then maybe none of the aftermath would have happened...Coffin Match started at 10:49 PM and you got to give those two guys credit for keeping the crowd and putting on a good match. A major snafu when it came to Malkavain spitting blood. Vampires do not spit blood!!! I am all about secret red ninja vampire venom mist or something, but with the popularity of vampires right now, no one is going to put over the fact of spitting blood…I was guessing on the booking at putting Lee in the main event, but it worked and it might have been better if the show was not so long…Jon Michael and Christian Jacobs were backstage.
OPINION
----Show was way too long and it loses the total effect as it goes on and on. They did establish a brand new top babyface in Seth Knight. Hopefully he will run with the ball and make this a good year for himself. Is the Malkavain/Starr feud still on?? It has a new chapter with Angelina turning back, but not sure if they are going in that direction or not?? Can Rashard return from being electrocuted?? Rashard is the kind of manager that takes A LOT to kill his heat. He was involved in the normal bad manager vs announcer bout and still had heat. Will Bishop return to try to get back the title or will they set up Rocker vs a new contender?? Weezy/Randy are hard to take serious as tag champs especially against big guys like Edwards/Red. I would like to see Weezy/Randy in a feud with a small babyface team getting over both teams. The show did nothing to help Shannon Lee, Tatt2, Smart or Cruz. Flash is headed to RWA. Flex, BLS and NBN were there just for the big show feel.
----Can you use Brian Christopher again after all of this?? Could you try to work an angle out of this, even though only the people that read this site know what happened?? Angles off of web sites have not ever worked not even with stuff from wwe.com. You are pigeon holing yourself targeting a hardcore audience that wants to see if Bishop/Brian would fight for REAL. Who says they wouldn’t though?? And the idea of whether they might shoot in the match would at least peak interest with me to attend the match. Brian took a bad beating last night, but it all came to a stop when he would grab Bishop in the front facelock. Not saying anything bad about Bishop here, because many of men have tapped to a front facelock. If I was a promoter, would I have a hard time using Brian? They drew 150 people in the building, which was a 40% increase in attendance and with a $7 ticket price a 57% increase at the gate, but was it because of Brian or because of DK vs Kilo?? Is any of it worth the problems that Brian causes backstage?? He had recently been “acting right” backstage. He was also doing ok backstage all night up until TJ being upset. I hate it that he went out and had the best match on the card, but because of some majorly backstage bullshit that no one wants to use him. Well..believe me..not sure if DCW will use him again, but there will be promoters out there taking chances at using him and I will continue writing this story over and over, unless he corrects his problems.
----I would like to finish this up with a thanks to all the cast and crew of DCW. This was one hell of a crazy night and everyone showed me upmost respect even Brian Christopher and Bishop for letting me shoot the photos. Thanks!!!
Photos by Brian Tramel
Left top: Seth Knight
Right top: NBN, BLS, Angelina and Flex
Left corner bottom: Motley Cruz, Flash Flanagan, Weezy/Rockin Randy and Brian Christopher
Right bottom: Dustin Starr and Jimmy Tidewell with coffin
