Albino Rhino, Brian Tramel and Maxx Corbin
----Before I go into the Arena Report, I wanted to just take a look at the roster for this show. This show was packed with the best talent of this area. Take a look – this show featured 16 RRO award winners or upcoming nominees.
Chris O’Neal – Tag Team of the Year 2006 and considered for Tag Team 2009.
Cody Melton – Nominated for Most Improved and Rookie 2008. He could be considered in Most Improved 2009. Ranked in RRO Top 10 Tag Teams.
Seth Knight – Most Improved and Most Underrated of 2009. He is having a hell of a year.
Genocide – Tag of the Year possible nominee 2009. Most Improved – you can look at both of them for this.
K-Hill – Rookie of the Year 2008.
Su Yung – Female Performer 2008 and participate in TV Match of the Year 2008. Considered for Female Performer of 2009.
Greg Anthony – Booker of the Year 2008. Tag Team of the Year possible nominee 2009. Ranked in RRO Top 10 of area.
Christian Jacobs – Tag Team of the Year 2006. Considered for Most Underrated, Horizon and Tag Team for 2009.
Shannon Lee – Considered for Most Improved 2009.
Jon Michael – Tag Team of the Year 2006. Considered for MVP Performer and Tag Team for 2009.
JR Manson – Rookie of the Year 2007 nominee.
Bishop – Considered for Most Improved 2009 and possible Match of the Year Candidate.
Derrick King – Three times Wrestler of the Year, 3 Match of the Year awards, MVP Tag Team 2008, ranked in top 2 of RRO Top 10 for 3 years, considered for Wrestler and Match 2009.
Dustin Starr – Two time Horizon Award winner, Top 10 Ranking. Considered for Horizon, Wrestler, Columnist and Site 2009.
Stan Lee – MVP Performer 2 time winner, Top 10 Ranking, MVP Tag Team 2008 – only wrestler to hold both single/tag in one year and considered for various categories for 2009.
Super Summer Showdown Ripley, TN 9.12.09
----“Canadian Dragon” Cody Melton defeated Hardcore Yaw. Good quick solid opener. Yaw is fast as hell and Melton has improved since the last time I watched him. Superplex spot from Melton. Perfect psychology. Melton ended it with his Maple Leaf Back Snapper. [*1/2]
----Seth Knight came out to wrestle Tim Edwards. Edwards brought out Big Red, so Knight called out Ike Tucker. Tucker’s music hit and the place went nuts. He agreed to be Seth’s partner after he called Edwards/Red the “Supersize Twins” and “Big Mac Attack Brothers”. Good shine, then we were treated to Knight getting his ass whipped and Ike in the perfect role for the hot tag. Knight was great here bumping around like a pinball. Big chop from Red to Knight. Double backdrop on Knight as his feet hit the ceiling. Edwards/Red did not disappoint here with both guys working hard tagging in and out when they were tired. Everything was solid with Ike getting hot tag. Edwards threw Knight a chain and the ref went to him to get it away. Double chokeslam from Red/Edwards for pin and win. [**1/2]
----“Genocide” [Albino Rhino/Maxx Corbin] beat “The Agents” [K-Hill/Kai] with Su Yung. “Genocide” got a big pop coming out. Agents jumped them at the start. Good solid bout. Rhino did an airplane spin!! Heat on Maxx after he went after Yung. Perfect psychology. Hot tag. Agents tried to suplex Rhino, but he suplexed them both. A couple of near falls that had me guessing. Blackhole slam and “bubba bomb” on K-Hill from Maxx. Double chokeslam. Powerslam from Rhino and a legdrop from the top turnbuckle from Maxx on K-Hill for the win. Albino got a hold of Yung and threw her over the top rope to the floor on the Agents after the match. [Oh shit moment] [***1/4]
---- Chris O’Neal brought out Derrick King for an interview. This was followed by Bishop. Bishop talked about the street fight and with people bringing in weapons in and he made reference to a baseball bat. [Brian C flashback] He then broke DK’s Michael Jackson glasses and they had a small pull-a-part. The fans were hot for this.
----“The Golden Boy” Greg Anthony beat “Girl Candy Christian Jacobs. Good solid bout, but for some reason I just expected a lot better match. Not as big a reaction during the bout as expected. CJ got a huge reaction coming out and at the end, but fans seem to not know why these guys were fighting?? CJ did a “skin the cat” then sent TGB outside the ring. A running Undertaker suicide dive to floor from CJ. I was thinking “damn that is a big man going over the ropes like that.”[Oh shit moment #2] I thought they both were dead. A few blotched moves. CJ used some good moves like a sharpshooter, a big boot and even a Kerry Von Erich discus punch from hell. Finish had a ref bump where CJ hit a ginormous spear on Kaleb. TGB went to a chair and CJ ends up spearing him with TGB kicking out. CJ almost speared the second ref but caught himself and TGB rolled him up using his tights for the pin.[***]
----Cody Melton beat Shannon Lee. Just quick solid bout to get Melton over more. Melton took a Flair bump from the top rope. Melton finished him with the Maple Leaf Back Snapper. [*1/2]
----Jon Michael beat JR Manson. Another good solid bout. JR grabs Michael getting into the ring. Big closeline from Michael. A couple of spinbusters and Michael went for a sharpshooter. Michael hit an elbow from the top rope. Michael goes into the ringpost slamming his “hurt” arm for Manson to start the heat. Manson worked over the arm. JR got powder out of his suitcase and hit Michael with. Codebreaker for near fall. Edwards came out with a chair. Michael hit Manson with a big boot with Manson coming off the top rope. Match ended with Michael suplex/RKO combo on Manson on a chair for the win. [***1/4]
Street Fight: Derrick King beat Bishop. One of those bouts where you had to be there to see it. All over the building brawl with chairs, trashcans, cheese fries, tables, a muffler and lots of other stuff. DK threw Bishop into the announcer’s desk [where I was sitting] and I got caught up in the table and chair. All I can remember is Bishop with cheese dip on his head coming towards me. At one point Bishop pitched DK from the bleachers over the top rope into the ring. [Oh shit moment #3] Bishop ripped DK’s pants off. Sitdown powerbomb from Bishop for near fall. Bishop grabbed a chair and put it on DK – Bishop off the top rope, but ate the chair. DK makes a comeback with a flying forearm, reverse atomic drop and X-factor. Bishop goes for second powerbomb and DK jumps over him. Superkick for near fall with ref counting to three I believe. Bishop with finisher for near fall. Second superkick for the actual pin and win. [***3/4]
----EWE Title Match: Dustin “Five” Starr beat Stan Lee. This just felt like a big match. Lee is over and Starr comes off as..well..a star. LOL Lee on fire at the front with good shine. Kicks to midsection. Flying press from top rope. Split leg duck. Standing moonsault. Split leg moonsault. Starr is in scary shape – looks like someone “chiseled” his body. They fought to the outside to the ramp. Starr attempted a “Starr Struck” and Lee a Tiger bomb. Starr backdrops Lee on the ramp. Heat started here. Lee caught Starr running into the corner with his legs, but Starr ended up powerbombing Lee, who going face first on mat and looked to twist his whole rib cage. Table and chair threw in the ring. So I guess it is no DQ?? Starr worked over the ribs. Lee flew over the turnbuckle hitting the ringpost. Lee juices. Lee starts his comeback with running European uppercuts to the corners. Attempts Tiger bomb, but Starr with a Russian Leg sweep. Starr to the top – Lee kicks him on the way down, then a Tiger Bomb. Near fall. Starr goes for a “Starr Struck” and Lee counters it with elbows. Ref bump with Starr hitting the ref with a closeline. Second Tiger Bomb with no ref. Bishop comes out and kicks Lee in the head and goes for his finisher. DK makes the save and shitcans Bishop. DK bodyslams Starr and holds him so Lee can frogsplash him for the win. Lee flying in mid air and DK hits him with a superkick!! [oh shit moment #4] Starr pins Lee to retain the belt. [****]
----The show finished with DK doing a heel interview talking about how everyone turned their back on him – even his brother Lee. He yelled at building owner JC and had the crowd hot! Various things in the interview were shoot – the fans went away mad. Will it make them return to see Lee get his revenge on DK??
NOTES
----225+ in the building for a free show…I like watching Hardcore Yaw, but wished he would get a new suit besides the old Phoenix X stuff. Maybe he should dress like a lumberjack??...Ike Tucker gets an unbelievable reaction every time I am in Ripley. The crowd loves him!! He has TONS of charisma that if one of the young guys had this they would be a WWE superstar. ..This is the last time “Genocide” will be tagging for a bit. Maxx is headed to work on getting a college degree…This was Kai’s first match and trainer Kevin White should be proud. He did a really good job. Garry White was sick, so Yung took his place…Chris O’Neal plays a great Commish. He comes to the ring in a nice shirt, pants and tie. And as always, O’Neal is over big in Ripley. He confessed to me after the show of being still not comfortable on the mic, but he comes across real well…They ran a video on the big screen of the Genocide/Agents angles leading up to the match. This was very well done and they heads above everyone with this kind of stuff…They setup a Street Fight this week for TGB vs CJ with Chris O’Neal coming out to put it over, which was a little too much after just one week for me. TGB is only in for two weeks, so I would have just put CJ over both weeks getting him ready for something bigger. The idea being if TGB is the “Best of the Best”, then CJ is better than that. CJ danced after the match and it got more reaction than the whole match…I want to see a CJ vs Starr feud over the belt…Melton’s regular scheduled opponent was sick – Dell Tucker – so he was stuck with working two prelim type matches. These two matches didn’t mean anything and probably should have been just left off the show. Or they could have worked a triple threat at the start with Melton winning the match and something to go along with it like a title shot. I like Melton’s new gimmick – he needs some tights with a big dragon on them though…I sit at the announcer’s table the whole show and Rick Marx did a fine job… Kaleb and TJ were the refs…Michael poured Manson’s crazy pills down his throat after the match…Main event went into the ring at 10:23 with a show start of 7:15, so it was a little too long…Starr again having a great match with Lee. I gave the match a little extra rating for the finish with DK turning. Big surprise and DK’s interview was really good after the turn. Some in the back were pissy because they said he should have waited to do it next week, but he had so much heat leaving that I believe the people will be there. I really don’t think you can sell tickets [maybe watch the next week’s TV show – but they don’t have a TV show!!] on “why” – you have to tell the fans, so they will come back…I just look tiny in that picture above – those guys are huge!!!...A really good show – overall one of the best of the year. ..Thanks to cast and crew. Fun time was had by all.
