GSR

Pre-match interview from Steele telling Spanky that hell end his career before its even started. Steele is accompanied by a valet called Buffy, while Spanky has American Dragon (with his arm in a sling) seconding him. Big size difference with Steele at over 7ft tall, while Venom is on commentary and says that Spanky has just signed a contract with the WWF. Spanky tries to use his speed to his advantage, he ducks under a clothesline, then a hideous big boot from Steele which misses, but which Spanky sells anyway. Spanky with a crossbody and Steele catches him. He drops the knee, Spanky moves and he then starts to try and take one of Steeles wheels out from under him. A dropkick sends him out of the ring, pescado, but again the big man catches him. He throws him into the guard rail and goes for another big boot, however Spanky moves and he crotches himself over the barrier. Spanky with some garbage can shots to the legs but Steele is in no mood for selling. Dive off the top but Steele catches him and plants him with a chokeslam. He ties a cable around Spankys neck and hangs him over the ropes before nailing him with a garbage can. Irish whip into the guard rail then Steele drops Spanky throat first onto it. Steele pulls out a table, sets it up on the floor and brings a chair into the ring. He sits Spanky on the top turnbuckle, who then fires back at him followed by ugly looking tornado DDT. Spanky with a couple of chair shots and one off the top puts him down. He places the chair on the prone Steele and climbs for the frog splash when out comes the Board of Education who attack him. He fights them off with Jeremy Sage taking a bump from the apron through the table. Big Bad John is next out and twice slips off the ropes attempting a superplex before Spanky shoves him backwards and he falls onto Steele. Wayne Knight is next to try his luck but he has as much impact as the other three. Spanky with the frog splash onto the chair and Steele and he gets the win. Post-match we see Steele busted open from those chair shots and theres dissension brewing between he, Big Bad John and Wayne Knight. Worst TWA match so far. Spanky tries but Steele is just not very good and that big boot spot was cringeworthy. The lack of selling the leg as well when Spanky was creaming him with those garbage can shots also really bothered me. The ending was a cluster with all those run ins, Big Bad John can't climb the ropes and not sure the purpose of Steele's valet who didnt do a single thing.

This match was made at the start of the TV show. Jimmy Valiant arrives at the studio in a white limo and heads in to the building where he makes his way around the audience, including kissing one black lady who appeared to be trying to push him off and certainly didn’t want to be kissed! Brandon Baxter is out and tells him he’s the match maker of Power Pro wrestling, he doesn’t want him here and he’s kicking him out of the studios right now. He calls for security to remove him, when out comes Randy Hales. Hales informs Baxter that he fed-exed him yesterday, and as of today he’s no longer the match maker, he is! He then makes the six-man tag match for the main event of his first show. Ali and Seven start things off and a clothesline takes Seven off his feet. Spinebuster and he plants him to the canvas with a chokeslam. Ali with a cover and Havok is in to make the save. He goes to drop an elbow on him, however Ali moves and hits Seven instead. Not one to learn his lesson he does it twice more and there’s dissension in the camp early. King with an axe handle off the top to Havok, headscissors, followed by one for Seven and a pair of superkicks to both. They step outside to regroup, but Ali with a press slam on King and he throws him out onto them. Ali with the pescado. King with a Frankensteiner that Seven blocks and turns into a powerbomb. Double press slam from Havok and Seven where they drop King face first to the canvas. Havok with a Splash Mountain and he gives up on the cover to tag in Baxter for the first time. Stunner for a two, DDT, he then misses a kneedrop off the middle and King tags in ‘Handsome’ Jimmy. Big elbow drop, Seven breaks up the pin and now everyone is in there. Ali unloads on Seven and throws him to the floor leaving King and Baxter all alone. Baxter wraps a chain around his fist, but King ducks out the way, slugs him and he drops it. Irish whip from Baxter, King leap frogs over him, boot to the mid-section and a facebuster for the win. Two big black dudes (one of whom is Mo from Men on a Mission) jump King after the match and the show goes off the air with them fighting Ali and Valiant. Enjoyable TV main event and I’m tempted to say Baxter was the best worker on the heel side. I do have a problem with a guy who’s a manager being competitive with the wrestlers (and the Young Guns champion at that), looking competent and better than his charges. Nice Splash Mountain from Havok and Valiant’s involvement being kept to a minimum is always a plus! Good stuff.

Tracey is over with Dave Brown and Cory Maclin doing his T-H-U-G catchphrase when he’s attacked from behind by Wolfie with the tag belt. Wolfie ducks out the way of a chair shot then nails Smothers over the back with one of his own. They finally get in the ring and Tracey dropkicks the chair into Wolfie’s face for a two. Its tit for tat as Wolfie dropkicks the chair into Smothers’ face and clotheslines him over the top rope to the floor. They fight to the back and out into the parking lot, before just turning around and heading back into the building. Tracey picks up a light tube, however the camera misses him hitting Wolfie with it. Wolfie with a DDT onto a chair, but then misses a senton off the top. Smothers heads outside to get a table although he struggles to get it into the ring. He levels Wolfie over the head with a chair and sets him up on the table. He climbs to the top, however Wolfie is able to get up off the table and fall into the ropes causing Smothers to crotch himself. Wolfie with a superplex that looks dangerous as hell as Smothers lands bang on the legs as opposed to in the middle of the table, he then covers Tracey for the win. This was okay but lacked the intensity that you’d expect from a street fight. The match didn’t go long either so I couldn’t fully invest in it, while there didn’t seem to be a lot of purpose for what they did. It was as if they went to the parking lot ‘because that’s what you should do for a streetfight’, through a few punches then turned around and headed back. Interviews aside, the best thing I’ve seen from Smothers in Memphis although that isn’t really the highest of praise. That superplex through the table at the finish looked nasty, and the camera work sucked at times too.

Elimination tag match to determine the new MCW tag team champions. Myers is the former WWF jobber who is the son of George Steele. Earl does some dancing as he enters the ring which resembles someone having a fit. Myers and York starts out before a tilt-a-whirl headscissors sees Myers bail and tag in Austin. Austin tries a Tajiri style handspring elbow that looks awful. York and Matthews continue to control things until Matthews ‘blows out his knee’ on a leap frog spot allowing the others to work him over and focus their attention on that leg. Myers and Earl with a double suplex that Matthews reverses into a double neckbreaker, York then just charges into the ring without waiting the for the tag and double dropkicks Cicero and Austin sending them both from the apron to the floor. Springboard somersault out onto them, he throws Austin back into the ring and Matthews with a reverse DDT and they’re eliminated. Combination Buff Blockbuster/Russian leg sweep on Matthews for a near fall, before going between Myers’ legs and forward rolling across the ring for the hot tag. Double hip toss powerbomb to Myers, but while the referee tries to get Joey out of there Earl hits York over the head with something and puts Myers on top. Great near fall with York kicking out at the last instant. Earl climbs the turnbuckles, Joey ducks a clothesline and hurls Myers into the corner causing the Pearl to lose his balance. Matthews with a Frankensteiner off the top, York with frog splash and the heels manager pulls the official out of the ring at the count of two. Double team finisher (not sure what it was) by Earl and Myers to Matthews and the ref slides back in to count the fall and our new MCW tag team champions are crowned. Not good for me. York and Matthews are both very green, Austin was bad, Cicero was non-existant really, Earl (who I wouldn’t mind seeing at all in a singles match) and Myers were decent, while the match itself felt rushed. Matthews stopped selling the lef the moment the heat segment finished, he dropkicks thin air at one point (which Earl sells) and messes up an Irish whip reversal. The first elimination also made zero sense. If York isn’t going to wait for the tag to be tagged in, why didn’t he just run into the ring earlier to save his partner or dropkick the opposition? A couple of nice near falls, the second which the crowd really popped for, and the match did improve when it became a regulation tag, but that’s it.

February 2000 ECW 1. Super Crazy vs Yoshihiro Tajiri (Japanese Death) (Jacksonville, FL 2/4) 2. Super Crazy vs Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido (Lacrosse, WI 2/18) 3. Raven & Tommy Dreamer vs Impact Players (TNN 2/25) 4. Mikey Whipwreck vs Spike Dudley (Jacksonville, FL 2/4) 5. Super Crazy vs Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido (Milwaukee, WI 2/19) 6. Rob Van Dam vs Masato Tanaka (Hardcore TV 2/6) 7. Kid Kash vs Little Guido (Norfolk, VA 2/12) 8. Tommy Dreamer & Dusty Rhodes vs Steve Corino & Jack Victory (Hardcore TV 2/13) 9. Steve Corino & Jack Victory vs Sandman & Tommy Dreamer (Lacrosse, WI 2/18) 10. Super Crazy vs Little Guido (Washington, DC 2/11) 11. Little Guido vs Mike Awesome (Jacksonville, FL 2/4) 12. Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka (TNN 2/18) 13. CW Anderson vs Super Crazy (Tallahassee, FL 2/5) Indies 1. Barry Horowitz vs Don Montoya (IPW 2/18) 2. Christopher Daniels vs Scoot Andrews (ECWA Super 8 2/26) 3. Scoot Andrews & Jet Jaguar vs Jeff Peterson & Chad Collyer (IPW 2/18) 4. Marty Janetty vs Mike Sullivan (IPW 2/18) 5. Barry Horowitz vs Marty Janetty (IPW 2/19) 6. Necro Butcher vs The Convict (NWA Southwest 2/5) 7. Action Jackson vs Bobo (WWA Texas 2/14) 8. Mega Rumble (NWA Wildside 2/12) 9. Chris Candido vs Damien Steele (Falls Count Anywhere) (XPW 2/26) 10. Ian Rotten vs Corporal Robinson (Taipei Death) (MAW 2/17) 11. Bubba the Love Train vs Whiplash (Tables) (PHPW 2/5) 12. Crazy Jimmy & Crazy Charlie vs Ninja Assassins (PHPW 2/5) JAPW 1. Low Ki vs Don Montoya (Shoot Match) (2/25) 2. Da Hit Squad vs The Big Unit vs Russ & Charlie Haas (Elimination) (2/25) 3. Homicide & Glenn Strange vs Jay Lover & Louie Ramos (Weapons Barbed Wire Death) (2/25) Memphis 1. Derrick King vs Chris Michaels vs Alan Steel (MPPW 2/12) 2. Ali & Jimmy Valiant & Derrick King vs Seven & Havok & Brandon Baxter (MPPW 2/26) 3. Robert Gibson vs Tommy Rogers (MPPW 2/12) 4. Tracey Smother vs Wolfie D (Boys in the Hood Streetfight) (MPPW 2/26) 5. Jerry Lawler vs Road Dogg (MCW 2/26) 6. Jerry Lawler vs Bull Pain (MCW 2/19) 7. Jim Cornette vs Randy Hales (Lumberjack Strap) (MPPW 2/5) 8. Tracey Smothers vs Scotty Sabre (MPPW 2/5) 9. Battle Royale (MPPW 2/5) OVW 1. Nick Dinsmore vs Damaja (2/12) 2. Rico Constantino vs Flash Flanagan (2/19) 3. Nick Dinsmore vs B.J. Payne (2/12) 4. Rico Constantino & Damaja vs Rip Rogers & Jason Lee (2/26) 5. Flash Flanagan vs Trailer Park Trash (2/5) (around half way through the month I came to the realization that ref bumps, outside interference etc. would take place in almost every match) TWA 1. American Dragon & Spanky vs ‘Love Machine’ Chaz Taylor & Buster Time (2/12) 2. Spanky vs Tiger Steele (Hardcore) (2/26) WCW ‘A’ Shows 1. Ric Flair vs Terry Funk (Death Match) (Superbrawl 2/20) 2. Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair (Nitro 2/14) 3. Scott Hall vs Jeff Jarrett (Thunder 2/9) 4. Lex Luger vs Hulk Hogan (Cage) (Nitro 2/21) 5. Ric Flair & Lex Luger vs Terry Funk & Dustin Rhodes (Thunder 2/16) 6. Lex Luger vs Hulk Hogan (Superbrawl 2/20) 7. Lex Luger vs Terry Funk (Nitro 2/14) 8. Ric Flair vs Vampiro (Thunder 2/23) 9. Sid vs Jeff Jarrett (Nitro 2/14) 10. Scott Hall vs Sid (Nitro 2/7) 11. Ric Flair vs Curt Hennig (Nitro 2/28) 12. Sid vs Scott Hall vs Jeff Jarrett (Superbrawl 2/20) NR - David Flair vs Terry Funk (Nitro 2/7) WCW ‘C’ Shows 1. PG-13 vs 3 Count (Shannon Moore & Shane Helms) (Saturday Night 2/5) 2. Billy Kidman vs Elix Skipper (Saturday Night 2/26) 3. Shannon Moore & Shane Helms vs Jamie Howard & Yun Yang (Worldwide 2/26) 4. PG-13 vs The Mamalukes (Saturday Night 2/26) 5. Jim Duggan vs Steven Regal (Saturday Night 2/26) 6. Steven Regal vs Fidel Sierra (Saturday Night 2/5) 7. Lash LaRoux vs Silver King (Saturday Night 2/5) 8. Dustin Rhodes vs Bobby Eaton (Saturday Night 2/26) 9. Power Company vs Mark Jindrak & Elix Skipper (Saturday Night 2/12) 10. Jim Duggan vs Robert Gibson (Saturday Night 2/19) WWF 1. HHH & X-Pac & Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn & Dean Malenko vs The Rock & Cactus Jack & Rikishi & Too Cool (Raw 2/7) 2. Chris Benoit vs HHH (Smackdown 2/3) 3. The Rock & Cactus Jack vs New Age Outlaws (Smackdown 2/10) 4. Edge & Christian vs New Age Outlaws (Raw 2/7) 5. The Rock vs Kurt Angle vs Tazz (Smackdown 2/3) 6. The Rock vs Chris Benoit (Raw 2/14) 7. Chris Benoit vs Rikishi (Smackdown 2/10) 8. Edge & Christian vs Dudley Boyz (Smackdown 2/10) 9. Dean Malenko vs X-Pac (Smackdown 2/3) 10. HHH & Big Show vs Kane (Raw 2/14) 11. New Age Outlaws vs Perry Saturn & Eddy Guerrero (Smackdown 2/3) NR - Kurt Angle vs Rikishi (Raw 2/28) Note: not everything was watched and I’ll be dropping WWF from my viewing due to time limitations

I'm only going to watch US based stuff, and the likelihood is I'll pick and choose as I don't think I'll have the time to watch everything (which is what the plan at first was). I'm doing it by promotion and sometimes I'll list everything for the month, sometimes a top three. I'll come back and update as I got and lets see how long this lasts! January 2000 APW 1. Michael Modest vs Christopher Daniels (Y2Kaos Weekend 1/22) 2. Westside Playaz 2000 (Robert Thompson & Boyce LeGrande) vs Shane & Shannon Ballard (Millenium Madness 1/15) CZW 1. Low Ki vs Ric Blade (Bloodbath 2000 1/8) 2. Ian Rotten vs Madman Pondo (Bloodbath 2000 1/8) ECW 1. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy (Mexican Death Match) (TNN 1/21) 2. Little Guido vs Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy (Fort Lauderdale, FL 1/28) 3. Dusty Rhodes & Tommy Dreamer vs Steve Corino & Rhino (Fort Lauderdale, FL 1/28) 4. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Jerry Lynn (TNN 1/14) 5. Super Crazy & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido & Jerry Lynn (Guilty As Charged 1/9) 6. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido (New Orleans, LA 1/22) 7. Super Crazy vs Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido (St Petersburg, FL 1/27) 8. Masato Tanaka vs Lance Storm (Baton Rouge, LA 1/21) 9. Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome (St Petersburg, FL 1/27) 10. Mike Awesome vs Masato Tanaka (Fort Lauderdale, FL 1/28) 11. Mike Awesome vs Spike Dudley (Guilty As Charged 1/9) 12. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Tommy Dreamer (Orlando 1/29) 13. Mike Awesome vs Little Guido (Orlando, FL 1/29) 14. Mike Awesome vs Spike Dudley (New Orleans, LA 1/22) 15. Sabu vs C.W. Anderson (New Orleans, LA 1/22) 16. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy vs Prodigy (Danbury, CT 1/14) 17. Sabu vs Spike Dudley (St Petersburg, FL 1/27) 18. Spike Dudley vs Sabu (Baton Rouge, LA 1/21) 19. Jerry Lynn vs Little Guido (Danbury, CT 1/14) 20. Rob Van Dam vs Mikey Whipwreck (Fort Lauderdale, FL 1/28) 21. Sabu vs C.W. Anderson (Orlando, FL 1/29) 22. Raven & Tommy Dreamer vs Steve Corino & Jack Victory (Danbury, CT 1/14) Indies 1. Carly Colon vs Ray Gonzalez (WWC 1/6) 2. Low Ki vs Billy Reil (JCW 1/29) 3. Backseat Boyz vs Bad Crew (EWF 1/28) 4. Mike Quackenbush & Johnny Graham vs Rob Noxious & George Anthony (IPW 1/15) 5. Necro Butcher vs Biohazard (NWA Southwest 1/15) 6. Adam Flash vs Danny Rose (no DQ) (EWF 1/28) 7. CM Punk vs Colt Cabana (MAW 1/8) 8. Joey Matthews & Christian York vs Earl the Pearl & Rich Myers vs Chad Austin & Jimmy Cicero (MCW 1/19) Memphis 1. Steve Bradley vs Ali (MPPW 1/22) 2. Steve Bradley vs Trailer Park Trash (street fight) (MPPW 1/8) 3. Bill Dundee vs Todd Morton (MCW 1/29) 4. Rico Constantino vs Steve Bradley (MPPW 1/15) 5. Tracey Smothers vs Ali (MPPW 1/29) 6. Tracey Smothers vs Nick Dinsmore (MPPW 1/22) NWA Wildside 1. A.J. Styles vs Jesse Taylor (1/15) 2. Bad Attitude vs Jerry Lynn & Kid Kash (1/29) 3. Rukkus vs White Trash vs Q-Sic vs Damien Steele vs Toad (Hardcore Elimination Rumble) (1/8) 4. Jorge Estrada vs K-Krush (1/8) 5. Jeff G. Bailey vs Stone Mountain (1/29) OVW 1. Trailer Park Trash & Jebediah vs Bull Buchanan & Mr Black (no DQ) (1/22) 2. Bull Buchanan & Nick Dinsmore vs Trailer Park Trash & Jebediah (1/15) 3. Rob Conway vs Nick Dinsmore (1/8) TWA 1. American Dragon vs Buster Time (1/22) 2. Spanky vs Rudy Boy Gonzalez (1/22) 3. American Dragon vs Spanky (1/1) 4. American Dragon & Spanky vs Rudy Boy Gonzales & Bonecrusher (1/8) 5. American Dragon & Spanky vs Board of Education (1/29) WCW ‘A’ Shows 1. Chris Benoit vs Sid (Souled Out 1/16) 2. Billy Kidman vs Psicosis (Nitro 1/17) 3. Bret Hart vs Kevin Nash (Nitro 1/10) 4. DDP vs Chris Kanyon (Thunder 1/19) 5. Bret Hart vs Terry Funk (Thunder 1/6) 6. Kevin Nash & Jeff Jarrett vs Sid & Chris Benoit (Thunder 1/12) 7. Terry Funk vs Bam Bam Bigelow (Nitro 1/24) 8. Buff Bagwell vs DDP (Nitro 1/17) 9. Kevin Nash vs Sid (Nitro 1/24) WCW ‘C’ Shows 1. La Parka & Silver King vs Villano IV & V (Saturday Night 1/29) 2. Lash LaRoux vs Kaz Hayashi (Saturday Night 1/29) 3. 3 Count vs PG-13 & Chavo Guerrero Jr (Saturday Night 1/15) 4. Chuck Palumbo vs Rick Cornell (Worldwide 1/22) 5. Tracey Smothers vs Barbarian (Worldwide 1/29) 6. Mark Jindrak vs Elix Skipper (Saturday Night 1/15) 7. Silver King vs Barry Horowitz (Saturday Night 1/15) 8. Steven Regal vs Rob Williams (Saturday Night 1/29) 9. Tommy Rogers vs Kid Romeo (Saturday Night 1/29) 10. Scott Armstrong vs Chavo Guerrero Jr (Saturday Night 1/22) 11. PG-13 vs David Flair & Crowbar (Saturday Night 1/22) 12. Kid Romeo vs Chavo Guerrero Jr (Worldwide 1/29) WWF 1. HHH vs Cactus Jack (Royal Rumble 1/23) 2. Dudley Boyz vs Hardy Boyz (Royal Rumble 1/23) 3. HHH & X-Pac & New Age Outlaws vs The Rock & Mankind & Acolytes (Raw 1/10) 4. HHH vs Rikishi (Smackdown 1/6) 5. Tazz vs Kurt Angle (Royal Rumble 1/23) 6. HHH & X-Pac vs The Rock & Big Show (Smackdown 1/13) 7. The Rock vs Kurt Angle (Smackdown 1/6) 8. Edge & Christian vs Dudley Boyz (Smackdown 1/27) 9. Chyna vs Chris Jericho vs Bob Holly (Royal Rumble 1/23) 10. The Rock vs Kurt Angle (Raw 1/31) 11. Rikishi & The Rock vs HHH & Big Show (Raw 1/24) 12. The Rock vs Rikishi (Smackdown 1/27) 13. Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble 1/23) 14. HHH vs Big Show (Raw 1/3) 15. New Age Outlaws vs Al Snow & Steve Blackman (Raw 1/31) 16. Jeff Hardy vs Al Snow (Raw 1/3) Late Finds 1. Tony Kozina vs Disco Fury (ECCW Insanity TV 1/22) 2. Adam Pearce & Tommy Rogers vs Erik Watts & Zandig (WXO TV 1/16) 3. Johnny Mantell vs Bronx Bomber Vinny (WWA Texas 1/15) 4. Scoot Andrews vs Hack Myers (WXO TV 1/23) 5. The Heartbreakers vs The Bodies (WXO TV 1/23) 6. High Fivin’ White Boyz vs The Glamour Order of Discipline (ECCW Insanity TV 1/22) 7. Black Dragon vs Weed (ECCW Insanity TV 1/21)

Rogers needs to lose the T-shirt while Lee’s got a look of Chris Candido about him. He and Damaja open up and work well together. Double flapjack and a double nip up. Rico with a somersault leg drop for a two. Rogers throws Damaja to the outside and then distracts the referee to allow Lee to get some cheap shots in, it doesn’t work though as Damaja gets the first shots in on Lee. Sunset flip and Rip is in to break up the pin. Rico with a slam on Lee and he goes for a big splash but Lee gets his knees up. Elbow off the middle for a two. Lee telegraphs a backdrop, Rico kicks him in the chest and he’s able to make the tag. Damaja with a flapjack, but he flapjacks him right into the referee. Damaja and Lee go at it in the corner, Rico tries to wake up the official when he gets blindsided by Rogers who knocks him out with some brass knux. Rogers makes the cover and Rob Conway slides into the ring, counts the three, raises Rip’s hand and the bell rings to signify the end of the match. Huh? There’s always been an abundance of officials around for previous matches and now we’ve a wrestler counting pins and declaring matches over? Including the Conway/Dinsmore house show footage, that’s six matches for the month, four have featured ref bumps and all six have had some sort of outside interference. Rico and Damaja didn’t look like a bad team, but by now you’re conditioned and waiting for that ref bump and outside interference.

OVW Heavyweight title match for Rico’s belt. Flash sprints to the ring and attacks Rick before the bell has even rung. Rob Conway joins Cornette and Dean Hill at the announcing desk and the camera cuts away from the in-ring action to show us this. Flash takes a flat back bump from the apron to the floor that we almost miss because of this fascination in showing us Conway. Rico with a suplex and a somersault leg drop for a two. Flash with a jawbreaker, superkick and a twisting leg drop off the middle rope. Rude Awakening necbreaker and a dropkick for another two. Flash takes a high backdrop over the turnbuckle to the outside, yet Conway is wittering on so the commentators barely talk about it. Rico with an axe handle off the top to the floor. A flapjack, nip up and a senton bomb off the top for a near fall. Heel referee Phil Fair turns up in the ring from somewhere and starts arguing with Nick Dumayer and now Robert Brisco is out to attack Fair. Rico with a spinning heel kick and a standing moonsault but the referee is pre-occupied in trying to get Fair and Brisco out of there. Conway leaves the broadcast booth, heads into the ring and goes to hit Rico with a chair. Rico grabs the chair and the two of them fight over it. Flash with a dropkick to the back of Rico and both his and Conway’s heads collide with the steel chair. Dumayer finally gets Fair and Brisco out of there, turns around to see Flash covering Rico, makes the count and we have a new OVW champion. Conway and Flash put the boots to Rico after the match until the Damaja makes the save. Oh dear. This is getting really frustrating. Why did they cut away from the in-ring action to show us Rob Conway at the announcing desk? That makes him look more important than the match, and ultimately your Heavyweight title. Flash takes two hellacious bumps to the arena floor and the camera only just catches both. Why did the heel referee have to come out? Then more nonsense with the referees fighting each other. How did Nick Dumayer completely miss Conway’s interference? Could he not hear the noise? The heads colliding with the chair? Why did he not see an unconscious Rob Conway in the ring after he’d finally got Brisco and Fair out of there? Another perfectly fine match (with Flash working hard) until the convoluted, overbooked mess at the end.

First up we get some clips from a house show match between Rob Conway and Nick Dinsmore at St. Theresa’s Gym. Huge backdrop on Conway and Dinsmore with a missile dropkick. Conway blocks the German suplex, Dinsmore with a dropkick, but Conway collides with the referee knocking him down. Double crossbody and both men go down. The Damaja is out and a chair shot to Conway, then one to Dinsmore, but Dinsmore collapses and falls on top of the ‘Iron Man’. The ref comes around, sees Dinsmore on top and counts the pin. In the OVW Arena and Dinsmore says that he easily, singlehandedly beat Rob Conway at St. Theresa’s Gym and that still puts him in contention for the triple threat match with Conway and Damaja at the Louisville Gardens. That means that it will be he who will be the winner of that match, he who will be the number one contender, and he who is going to be the OVW Heavyweight champion because no-one in OVW can hold him down. Payne runs the ropes, Dinsmore with a leapfrog, he goes for a second but B.J. catches him with a sit out spinebuster for two. Nice float over into a double underhook suplex from Dinsmore. Payne with a sunset flip for two, then Dinsmore immediately nails him with a clothesline. Dinsmore’s clearly been watching his Steven Regal tapes as he does the spot where he is arguing with the official whilst driving his shin into his opponent’s throat. He misses a diving headbutt off the top and Payne starts to fire back. B.J. with a big slam, a bulldog, he climbs to the top turnbuckle but Dinsmore dropkicks the rope and he loses his balance. Dinsmore with a superplex, however the Damaja is out and holds on to B.J. who then shoves Dinsmore backwards to the canvas. Frog splash from Payne and he gets the win. We return from an advert and Dinsmore is still in the ring and he challenges Damaja to get back out here now as he will not lose a match on ‘his’ TV show. Damaja’s music plays and he’s straight back out. Fast start from Damaja with a back elbow and a big dropkick. Damaja whips Dinsmore into the turnbuckles, charges at him but is met with an elbow and Dinsmore with a dropkick off the middle. Damaja reverses an Irish whip and a clothesline off the top for a near fall. Dinsmore with a snapmare, he then misses a leg drop off the middle. Dinsmore blocks the ‘Brain Damage’, goes for a German suplex but Damaja is able to block that. He grabs Dinsmore’s leg, however he kicks him in the backside and Damaja goes careering into the referee KO’ing him. Kenny Bolin is up and in the ring, Damaja sees him coming and snatches his briefcase off him. He hits Dinsmore over the head with it when out comes Rob Conway with an ‘iron fist’ to Damaja. Both are knocked out, however Dinsmore is able to get a hand over his opponent. The referee comes around to see this, counts the pin and it’s a victory for Mr Wrestling. I will say that after the initial Rob Conway match I’ve been more and more impressed with Nick Dinsmore each time I’ve seen him. Payne is average at best, looks rigid and stiff in the ring, his offense isn’t great, but Dinsmore has a solid match with him (I think that’s becoming my phrase of choice when it comes to OVW TV matches!). I didn’t even mind the outside interference here. Really liked what we got off Dinsmore vs Damaja and I reckon they could have a heck of a match given 15 minutes or longer. Cornette telegraphs the Conway involvement saying how we haven’t seen him today, and the ending of the match is what you’ve come to expect from OVW with ref bumps, foreign objects and outside interference.

Heel referee Phil Fair is the official for this match and Cornette talks about how he doesn’t like Trash’s chances, when out comes the other OVW officials Joe Wheeler, Nick Dumayer and James Harden. They physically ejecty Fair out of there and Dumayer takes his place. The two start out fast with Trash peppering Flash with some rights, a DDT and a clothesline over the top rope to the floor. Flash blocks Trash trying to ram his head into the turnbuckles, elbows him in the mid-section and then rams Trash’s head into them instead. A series of chops from Flash, an Irish whip, he then charges at Trash, he moves and it’s now his turn to lay in those chops. Flash with a superkick, he tosses Trash to the outside and comes off the top with a somersault senton to the floor. Flash misses an elbow off the top and Trash starts to fire back. He whips Flash from corner to corner, sideslam and he goes for a crossbody but Flash pulls the referee in the way and Trash hits him instead. With the official down Phil Fair is back to take his place. Flash with the ‘Whiplash’ (Buff Blockbuster) and Fair counts the pin, when out comes referee Robert Brisco who stops the count and attacks Fair. The refs fight to the back, by which time Nick Dumayer is back to his feet. Trash with a DDT, and as Dumayer is counting this pin attempt he is dragged from the ring by Robbie D to break it. D’s interference costs Flash the match by DQ, he then decks Dumayer. Incredible dropkick by D to Trash who is sat on Flash’s shoulders. They continue to double team him until Rico Constantino makes the save and unloads on them both. He clotheslines D over the ropes to the floor, ‘Sudden Impact’ on Flash and from somewhere Robert Brisco is back to count a three and raise Constantino’s hand. Where to start? The match was going along fine until the ref bump and then it was overbooked dross. Ref bump, heel ref, referees fighting each other, outside interference, a non-participant in the match getting a ‘pin’ over the champion. I don’t have the heart to write anymore about this, but between OVW and Power Pro I’ve had a gutful of Cornette’s booking for the time being. Hoping that we get at least one completely clean finish this month, although I’m not holding my breath. Search out Robbie D’s dropkick but that’s it.

Reil insults the crowd before the bout begins so we know that he’s the heel in this one. Nice opening where they trade arm wringers and work a section around that. Arm drag sends Reil to the floor, Ki with a pescado but Reil slides back into the ring avoiding it. He outstretches his arms thinking he’s outsmarted him, not so, as Ki with a springboard crossbody back into the ring for a two. Reil offers Ki his hand and he goes to shake it, but he slaps him in the face before ducking between the ropes so Ki can’t get him. Reil with a headscissors, Ki with one of his own and Reil steps outside for a breather. Not for long as Ki leaps to the top turnbuckle and comes off with a somersault senton to the floor. Ki whips Reil into the turnbuckles, handspring, but Reil comes off the middle with a bulldog (although you can clearly see Ki waiting for this) for a two. He blocks a German and a sit out suplex for another two. Elbow off the top and the near falls continue as Reil complains about the referee’s count. Double jump springboard moonsault but Ki moves out of the way. He fires back with some snap kicks and Reil puts a stop to that with a poke to the eyes. Monkey flip, Ki lands on his feet and handspring into a round off kick. Ki with a Frankensteiner off the top, but Reil reverses it into a powerbomb. It’s Ki’s turn to step outside for a breather, no rest for him either mind as Reil with a plancha off the top to the floor. Reil then starts shouting ‘Wrestlemania’ and referring to himself as ‘the man’! He goes for a trio of powerbombs but on the third Ki blocks it and hits a brain buster. Dragon sleeper and Reil accidentally (?) claws the referee in the face temporarily blinding him and he misses seeing him tap. Tornado DDT by Ki which Reil reverses into a lovely Death Valley Driver. He then puts his legs over the ropes for added leverage whilst making the cover to get the win. Post-match Reil puts Ki over as the toughest man he’s ever stepped in the ring with and they shake hands. A completely different match to Low Ki vs Ric Blade, with Ki showing that he can actually wrestle as opposed to just hitting high spots. He even busts out a bit of Lucha. First time seeing Reil and I enjoyed his interactions with the crowd, his stooging and just generally heeling it up. He doesn’t look the flashiest of wrestlers but the guy can fly and he’s another with real potential. I wasn’t enamoured with the ref involvement at the finish as it was out of place with the match that we had been watching. Preferred this one to Ki/Blade because it actually felt like a ‘match’ whereas that felt like a ‘show’.

Necro looks so different with face paint. He comes to the ring wearing a bandana and carrying a stop sign and a light bulb covered baseball bat for this hardcore match. Biohazard attacks Necro from, despite his claims that he’s going to show these fans a ‘wrestling match’, and uses the top rope to choke the Butcher. Necro backdrops him over the top rope to the floor and an attempted somersault senton however he doesn’t quite flip all the way over. They fight around ringside, but as soon as Necro picks up a chair Biohazard is straight back into the ring. An ugly looking suplex and a leg drop from Biohazard for a two. He picks up a chair and a couple of shots to the chest of the prone Butcher followed by one to the head. Necro just looks at him and waves his finger, so Biohazard gives him a full force one that still doesn’t put him down. He then picks up the baseball bat and hits the Butcher three times in the back with that, breaking the light bulbs in the process. He grinds the bat into his forehead, more weapon shots (chair and stop sign), but when he hits Necro over the head he doesn’t seem to register them. He fires back and a headbutt sends Biohazard tumbling to the outside. More fighting on the floor and Biohazard again drills Necro with a vicious chair shot and again it does nothing. A couple more to the back and the Butcher is busted open by now. Biohazard throws a garbage can filled with barbed wire into the ring, nails Necro with a can and a hip toss into the barbed wire. Drop toe hold into a chair and Biohazard climbs to the top. He comes off but is met by a chair swinging Necro. The Butcher puts the stop sign over his head, comes off with a leg drop off the middle onto it and gets the three for the win. I think I first saw Necro in IWA-MS a few years after this, so interesting to see him a couple of years prior. He’s pretty sloppy and rough around the edges in the ring, but even back here is taking ridiculous levels of punishment (those full force chair shots are nasty). A unique gimmick as well, almost like you don’t hit him in the head as that won’t affect him, concentrate your efforts elsewhere. Biohazard is nothing special but at least he puts his hands up to protect himself when Necro is cracking him over the head with the chair.

Cabana is introduced as ‘The Classic’ Colton Cabana (later called Scott Colton by the commentator), and he at least looks like a wrestler as opposed to Punk who looks like he’s been dragged in off the street. Punk with a hip toss and a side headlock takedown. A second hip toss and Cabana backs off. Punk’s in and unloads with some dodgy looking rights and some feeble sounding chops before Colt shows him how it’s done. Cabana with a powerslam, he makes the cover and starts doing push ups at the same time. Slingshot leg drop over the ropes from Colt. Sloppy sunset flip from Punk and Cabana fires back with a clothesline. Knee to the mid-section, he then climbs the turnbuckles and starts posing to the crowd. Double underhook suplex and he picks Punk up at two. Colt attempts a backdrop but Punk kicks him in the chest. Irish whip and a rough looking spinebuster. Back elbow, body slam and a split legged moonsault for the win. Average show opening match where I though Cabana looked much better than Punk. I don’t know how long either had been in the business, but Punk looks like a rookie compared with Cabana who looks to have a good few years’ experience under his belt. Colt works heel and on top with some nice touches along the way (such as doing push ups whilst making the pin) and has good interaction with the crowd, which is for the better as it means all Punk has to do was sell. Punk’s punches were bad and he had sloppy execution on both a sunset flip and a spinebuster. He nails the split legged moonsault mind, and cool to see that being the finish after the excesses of Ki/Blade which I watched earlier in the day. Pretty amazing watching this that for a period of time Punk would go on to become one of the biggest stars in the industry. Also worth pointing out that the commentators mention that the main event of this card is Jake Milliman teaming with Mae Young! WTF!

Blade comes out to Kid Kash’s ECW music and has got a valet called ‘Shorty’ who dresses like him. Opening salvo where they exchange holds followed by a couple of quick pin attempts before they stop and stare at each other. Boy do I hate that! Ki with a rolling heel kick sending Blade to the outside. He feints a dive then leaps to the top rope (only just keeping his balance) and a reverse somersault senton to the floor. Double arm underhook suplex, and he floats over into a submission. Blade reverses a second double underhook into a Falcon Arrow. Swanton Bomb off the top, he then immediately runs to the opposite turnbuckle and comes off the top with a leg drop for a two. He throws Ki to the floor and an Arabian moonsault onto him. Back in the ring and Blade with a nice looking surfboard. He kicks Ki in the head but his kicks lack the crispness of his opponent. Ki reverses a fireman’s carry into an armbar and Blade has to get to the ropes to break the hold. A lousy clothesline from Blade and a sit out powerbomb. He misses a handspring elbow (which looks dreadful) and Ki responds with a handspring rolling kick. It all starts to look a bit choreographed at this point, until Ki with a German suplex where Blade lands right on the back of his neck. Diving headbutt misses and Blade with a crane kick leg drop off the ring post for a two. He misses a springboard somersault leg drop, Ki with a 450 and Blade kicks out. Ki brings a table into the ring, goes for a tornado DDT through it, Blade blocks and hits another Falcon Arrow. Ki Krusher off the top through the table but it’s only a two! Ki sets up a table on the arena floor, Blade escapes a powerbomb over the rope attempt and nails Ki with a superkick. He then, in a very convoluted way, falls out of the ring and rolls onto the table. Blade goes to leapfrog over the referee with a leg drop onto Ki and through the table, but he comes up short and crashes to the arena floor. He’s straight back to his feet and a springboard leg drop puts Ki through it as the crowd chant ‘you fucked up’. He rolls him back into the ring, standing moonsault followed by successive ones off each turnbuckle and that’s finally enough to put Ki away as the two receive a standing ovation. Ki is already smooth in the ring and shows none of the rawness that you see with the American Dragon, Spanky and A.J. Styles. A ring outfit change will be for the better, while Blade just screams Indy. This felt like a match of spots, at times very choreographed, with both of them trying to show everything that they can do and I lost count of the times that they went to the top rope. No psychology or selling and they were kicking out of moves that really should be finishers (swanton/legdrop combination, 450 splash and especially the Ki Krusher through the table); excesses that will become more commonplace as we make our way through the decade. One awful botch from Blade where he crashed and burned, but the effort was there from both and the crowd lapped it up. I think this is a case of my taste in what I enjoy watching having evolved from when this took place.

A title match for Spanky’s TV title with Bonecrusher in Rudy Boy’s corner. Rudy jumps Spanky as soon as he steps through the ropes and starts to go to work on him. Spanky with a frankensteiner and a spinning flying headscissors. He drags Rudy to the outside and comes off the top turnbuckle with an elbow onto him. He rolls him back in the ring and a missile dropkick only brings a one. Reverse atomic drop, regular atomic drop and Rudy (with some great facials) stumbles out of the ring to the floor with the commentator saying ‘his testicles are in turmoil’! Tope through the ropes, but that takes its toll on Spanky too. He charges at Rudy, only for Rudy to backdrop him over the guard rail and into the front row of the crowd. Rudy Boy distracts the referee allowing Bonecrusher to put the boots to Spanky before throwing him back into the ring. Next it’s Bonecrusher’s turn to distract the official giving Rudy the chance to apply his ‘Texas tarantula’ submission for longer than the regulation five seconds. Big backbreaker as Rudy continues to work on Spanky’s lower back. Pump handle slam that Spanky reverses into a reverse DDT, or as Shawn Michaels calls it, a ‘slop drop’. He misses a moonsault and Rudy with a powerbomb. He climbs to the top turnbuckle but takes too long and Spanky is able to get back to his feet and nail him from behind. He then hits a vicious looking German suplex off the top with Rudy landing flush on his neck. Spanky whips Rudy into the ropes, he ducks a clothesline but is met with a handspring elbow that sends him to the floor. Big dive over the top rope out onto him. Rudy reverses an Irish whip to the turnbuckles, he charges at Spanky, however drop toe hold and Rudy goes crashing head first into the bottom one. Sensing his man in trouble Bonecrusher gets in the ring and sets himself up for the spear. He runs at Spanky who leaps over him and Crusher takes out Rudy Boy instead. Face first suplex and Spanky heads up for the frog splash. Bonecrusher takes his legs out from under him and Spanky crotches himself. Superkick from Rudy (that the camera almost misses) and we’ve a new TWA TV champion. This was the last TWA match of January that I had to watch, and it’s been a very strong in-ring month for them with me enjoying everything that I’ve seen. The best Spanky has looked so far and that has to be down to him being in there with a veteran worker. Great pace to the match, with Rudy’s control segment slowing things down in the middle portion. The set up for the German off the top didn’t look the best, but you quickly forget about that once you see the bump that Rudy takes from it. Cracking spot towards the end where Spanky leapfrogs over Bonecrusher’s spear and he takes out Gonzalez instead. A shade below Dragon/Buster for me, but another very good TV match.

A non-title, no DQ match with Kenny Bolin in the corner for the challengers. Trash is announced as being from ‘everywhere because his house is mobile’, which I liked. Collar and elbow tie up and Bull easily overpowers Trash sending him flying backwards to the canvas. He rolls out the ring and rather than test his strength against him again, he picks up a chair from the outside, returns to the ring and levels Bull in the back and Mr Black in the head with it. Backbreaker by Bull, he then leaps to the top turnbuckle in one and comes off with a reverse splash but Trash is able to get out of the way. Jebediah with a shoulder block, then he takes off his cowboy boot and starts using that as a weapon on his opponents. All four of them are in the ring, the referee tries to get Trash out of there (why if it’s no DQ?) and Black wallops Jeb with a slapjack. Bull leaps to the top rope and comes off with a reverse clothesline for a two. Springboard axe handle from him, scissor kick to the back of the head and Trash is in to break up the pin. Jeb ducks out the way of a Bull big boot and he hits Mr Black instead, giving him the opportunity to make the hot tag to Trash. Flying forearm on Bull and he then unloads on Mr Black. Trash with the roll up, but the referee is more concerned with Jebediah and Black fighting on the arena floor to count. Bull kicks out and he sends Trash crashing head first into Kenny Bolin’s briefcase and he makes the cover for the win. I liked this but there were some inconsistencies regarding the match being ‘no DQ’. Why is the referee trying to get Trailer Park Trash out of the ring (and on more than one occasion)? Why at the finish of the match is the referee concerned with Jebediah and Mr Black fighting on the floor instead of officiating the in-ring action? Cornette says that Bolin Services asked for the ‘no DQ’ match as a tune up for a big tag match on Tuesday night at St. Therese’s Gym so that they could hurt one of their opponents and they wouldn’t be 100%. Why did they do nothing then to try and hurt or injure them bar hitting one of them with a slapjack? Bull showed off his athleticism, although Corny’s use of the phrase ‘cat like agility’ is already starting to grate. Shame Jebediah was in more for his team as opposed to Trash.

Dinsmore is going by the moniker ‘Mr Wrestling’ and he’s managed by Kenny Bolin. Conway starts off the match wrestling in shades before he loses them. The two go back and forth with Cornette telling us how these two know each other so well. Nice hip toss takedown by Dinsmore but Conway responds with a boot to the mid-section and an ‘iron fist’ for two. Dinsmore blocks a superplex and comes off the top with a dropkick. He misses a splash off the top and Conway fires back with some rights. Back drop, back elbow, and he then misses the ‘iron fist’ from the turnbuckles. Double clothesline and both men are knocked down. Bolin throws a chain to Dinsmore, with which he nails Conway, only for him to kick out at the last second for a great near fall. Bolin is up on the apron and while he and Dinsmore argue the count, Conway pulls something out of his own tights and puts it in his glove. He goes to hit Diasmore but he moves and clocks the referee instead. German suplex by Dinsmore and a second referee (Phil Fair, heel official I thin) runs in to fast count the fall. Didn’t care for this and I found it dull. The two are solid workers but that’s about it. The likes of Spanky and American Dragon might not be as polished as these yet, but give me those guys over these any day. I wish Cornette would take a break while on commentary for a bit, but he talks non-stop and when Dean Hill says something it’s like he is trying to compete and keep up with him. Having already watched all of Power Pro for the month, I suppose I should’ve been expecting a ref bump! One cracking near fall, but I hope OVW improves from here.

Pre-match interview from Rick Michaels where he calls out Ricky Morton and the Rock & Roll Express for the next show, before saying how they want some competition as they’re sick and tired of playing around with a bunch of kids. The ECW TV show entrance music plays and out walks Jerry Lynn and Kid Kash. Lynn tells them that the people are fed up of their moaning and if they’ve got any testicular fortitude they’ll put the belts on the line against them and they’ll kick their ass ‘ECW style’. Michaels accepts before Young tells them they’re not in ECW, they’re in the house Bad Attitude built. The commentators also inform us that Kash broke his jaw at the ECW tapings last night and his mouth is wired shut. Kash and Young open and exchange hammerlocks before a series of arm drags and hip tosses end up with both members of Bad Attitude out on the arena floor. Michaels wants Lynn and Kash is only happy to oblige. A flying headscissors and a clothesline over the ropes sees him back on the outside though. Young tries to attack Lynn from behind but he gets back dropped out and onto his partner. Pescado by Lynn onto both. Back in the ring and Lynn runs the ropes but Young (still on the floor) grabs his foot and a little stumble enable Michaels to nail him with a DDT. Bad Attitude go to work on Lynn including some rule breaking behind the referees back and some phantom tags (with the other member of the team just clapping) when the official is distracted by Kash. Dreadful looking handspring elbow by Young. Russian legsweep from Michaels and Kash is in to break up the pin. Young with a spinebuster (no-one does it better apparently!), Michaels with a sort of frog splash and Kash again has to break up the pin. Young goes for a backdrop but Lynn with a DDT and he’s finally able to tag in Kash. He unloads on Bad Attitude and it’s not long before all four men are in the ring. Kash and Young start brawling on the floor and Kash cracks him in the head with a chair. Lynn with a tornado DDT and Michaels is able to get a foot on the ropes. All four are back in the ring before they all end up on the outside. As they fight at ringside the referee continues his count, and with the ECW guys keep an eye on that, when he reaches nine they dive back in the ring to win the match, but not the titles. The finish doesn’t go down well will the crowd as they start chanting ‘bullshit’ at it. Michaels is a scuzzy looking sort, but he and Young make a decent little team. They’ve a few tag team manoeuvres and work well together (I especially liked the phantom tag spots they were doing). I started to lose interest when they were getting the heat on Lynn as that felt as though it went on a tad longer than was necessary. Things picked up though when Kash was in there. The audience shat on the finish although I thought it was pretty smart, and to be fair what were they expecting? The outsiders weren’t going to win the belts and this way the champs are protected and the ECW guys don’t have to job, which I’m guessing was a caveat for being able to get them to appear in the first place.

Shawn Michaels is in the ring and he brings out the Board of Education as he has a special surprise for them. He tells them that a couple of TWA stars came to him and said they would like to change their goals. They had individual goals, but now have a collective one, and that’s to be the TWA tag team champions. He then introduces their new competition, American Dragon and Spanky, who both sprint to the ring and attack the Board of Education. Dragon starts laying those shots into Sage, before completely missing a dropkick and he tags out to Cruz. Drop toe hold and Spanky with a leg drop from the apron over the top rope onto him. Spanky with a missile dropkick to the back of Cruz, a backdrop driver and Sage is in to break up the pin. All four men are in the ring and Dragon with the ‘cactus clothesline’ to Sage and Spanky with a tornado DDT to Cruz. Face first suplex, Dragon with an elbow off the top, followed by Spanky with a frog splash for the three. The commentators then immediately start questioning if we’ve seen a title change and whether Dragon and Spanky are the new champions. The Board of Education start talking with the referee who goes outside to Michaels and says that the bell for the match never rand, plus he as the official was never informed this would be a title match so he can’t award the belts to Spanky and Dragon. HBK says there is only one thing he can do, and that’s to make this a title match right now and he restarts the match. Spanky throws Sage to the floor and a pescado out onto him. Cruz with a belly to belly on Dragon, but he misses a Lionsault. Spanky with a pair of clotheslines then dropkicks to the Board of Education. Face first suplex to Sage, Dragon with the elbow off the top and as Spanky readies himself for the frog splash, he is nailed in the back with a kendo stick from Venom (Paul Diamond) and falls to the canvas. Venom and his entourage (Big Bad John and Wayne Knight) attack both teams and the match is thrown out. Venom gets on the mic and says you’re either with him or against him, and this is what happens when you’re against him. After Team Venom leaves the four laying in the ring, once they get to their feet we get a little more action including a couple of crazy dives to the floor from Dragon and Spanky before they go to a commercial. Awful, awful finish. Not once, but twice! We think we’ve seen a tag change only to get a Dusty finish, then it looks like we’re ‘really’ about to see one, only to get screwed again due to a run-in. Two short sprints and the action wasn’t bad (bar one missed Dragon dropkick), but those endings sends this to the bottom of the pile.

Short pre-match interviews from both. Time is pretty intense and pumped, while Dragon is fairly softly spoken and calls Time another rung on his ladder, whilst comparing their upcoming match to David vs Goliath. Buster with a clothesline that folds Dragon over, but he fights back with a huracanrana and a series of arm drags. They exchange stinging chops in the corner and Dragon’s resonate through Buster’s T-shirt. A headscissors sends Time to the floor. Dragon with a pescado but Buster catches him and puts him over his shoulder, however Dragon slides off and sends Time careering into the guard rail. Dragon with a huracanrana sending Time over the guardrail and into the front row, and then a flip dive off barricade onto him. As Buster tries to get back to the ringside area, he’s met with an elbow off the apron followed by a suicide dive from Dragon. He throws him into the ring, springboards off the top, but is caught with a powerslam. Time tosses him to the outside, gorilla press and he just drops him chest first to the floor, followed by an Irish whip into the guard rail. Dragon breaks a side headlick and a spinning heel kick sends Time tumbling through the ropes to the outside. Dropkick off the apron to the floor by Dragon. Headscissors back into the ring, but Buster with a big chokeslam and a huge elbow for a near fall. Big Bad John comes to ringside, Dragon reverses an Irish whip and John nails Time in the back with a kendo stick. Snap suplex and an elbow off the top for the win. Great TV match and Dragon worked so hard here. His work ethic, even this early in his career, is off the charts (flip dive off the barricade, suicide dive, taking a press slam to the arena floor, taking an Irish whip into the guard rail, dropkick off the apron to the floor). I’ve never seen Time before but was impresses by him too and he cuts a strong, if not short, promo before the match. No hesitations or botches that have been evident in the first few TWA matches I’ve watched either. Of the stuff that is new to me, probably my favourite thing so far.

Spanky and Rudy Boy start the match off and exchange some hammerlock reversals. Spanky with a rough arm drag off the ropes, he then completely misses a headscissors before dropkicking Rudy through the ropes to the floor. High dropkick by Dragon, Rudy with an eye poke and he tags out to Bonecrusher. Dragon escapes a press slam and lays in some chops (which don’t have the same effect as usual due to the prison garb that BC is wearing), drop toe hold, modified camel clutch and Spanky is in to dropkick Bonecrusher in the face. Blind tag to Rudy, Spanky slams BC, climbs to the middle rope and Rudy with an Electric chair as Crusher rolls out of there. Texas tarantula by Rudy, he then drapes Spanky over the top rope and BC comes off the middle with a double axe handle to the back. Press slam and a leg drop for a two. Superbomb attempt that Spanky reverses into a ‘Spankensteiner’ on Crusher. Hot tag to Dragon and he unloads with forearms on his opponents. Rudy whips Dragon into the corner but he leaps to the top rope, backflips over him and dropkicks him to the outside. Bit of a miscommunication as the referee gets in the way of a dive, so Dragon steps out and comes off the top with a moonsault to the floor instead! Bonecrusher is round to attack him and Spanky with a flip dive onto them all. Dragon with a tornado DDT to Gonzales and he tags in Spanky. Rudy accidentally superkicks the official in the back when Spanky moves and a huracanrana but no ref. Bonecrusher with an awesome looking spear to Spanky and Dragon them throws him to the floor. As the two fight on the outside Rudy crawls over and covers Spanky, the referee comes to and counts the three. A bit different seeing Spanky and Dragon as a team and I liked them as Spanky is a pretty good FIP. I thought Dragon looked the better of the two here and Spanky seemed a lot greener than in the singles match they had together (botched headscissors, rough arm drag and there was a tentative backdrop too). Bonecrusher didn’t show much but I enjoyed Rudy’s work. The ref bump that led to the finish looked terrible.

The TV episode opens with a confrontation between Jerry Lawler (in the ring) and the Road Dogg (on the stage). Dogg says that the WWF champion, Triple H, has a problem with ‘The King’ because last time he was at The Pyramid he teamed up with The Rock against him. He says all these good things about them every Monday and Thursday night, but when The Rock was in trouble that night ‘the crowned one’ came out to save the day and almost crippled Triple H with a piledriver. He is here for one thing tonight and that’s to get an apology for ‘The Game’ in front of everyone. The Dogg tells him that he either gives him an apology or he’s going to kick his ass. Lawler says that he may say some good things about him and DX on a Monday and Thursday, but he only does that to play Devil’s advocate. If he should apologise about anything it should be for some of the things he says on Raw and Smackdown. He’s certainly not going to apologise for giving Triple H a piledriver in front of 20,000 of his hometown fans in Memphis, TN. When the Dogg enquires if that’s his final answer, ‘The King’ confirms and Dogg says that he guesses he’s got to kick his ass and heads to the ring. The Dogg attacks Lawler and just as ‘The King’ starts to get in some shots of his own, the officials and security are out to separate them. David Jett then wonders if they can get the match signed for today. On to the match and the Road Dogg does his intro and says after the melee that happened earlier he is sure ‘The King’ is ready to apologise. He’s going to give him one more opportunity and if he doesn’t he’ll be getting a little more of what he got a little while ago. Lawler tells him that if he’s waiting for an apology he’s got two words for him ‘suck it!’ Lawler starts out quickly and hits a DDT early on the Dogg. The Dogg reverses an Irish whip, backdrop, then some left jabs before dropping ‘The King’ with a right. A shake and a shimmy and he drops the knee across his throat for a two. Dogg whips Lawler into the turnbuckles, comes charging at him but ‘The King’ gets his foot up and then peppers the Dogg with some lefts of his own. Lawler with the fistdrop and Dogg kicks out on two, seconds before Todd Morton and Bull Pain are out to attack ‘The King’. They put the boots to Lawler and the Dogg joins in but Morton pushes him away. He tries to join in a second time and this time Pain pushes him away. That’s enough for the Dogg and he attacks the KAW guys saving ‘The King’ and the two of them team up to see Pain and Morton off. With this starting so late in the show you knew it wasn’t going long. Third MCW match of the project, third match with outside interference. This is getting as bad as the ref bumps in Power Pro. It looks like Morton and Pain were late on their run in and Dogg had to kick out of the fistdrop. Prefered this to Lawler/Pain, but like Gibson/Rogers, it was over just as I was getting into it. They work a surprising quick pace, but with it begin so short guess they were able to!

‘The King’ is out first followed by Pain who has his Kick Ass Wrestling entourage of Todd Morton and Al K. Holic accompanying him. Lawler warns Morton that he may have been the ‘big stuff’ in KAW but this is Memphis wrestling now and if either of them want some, just get right in! Pain distracts the official to allow Morton and Holic to get some shots in on ‘The King’, Morton and Holic distract the official to allow Pain to rulebreak and bend the rules behind his back, rinse, repeat. I liked the commentator talking about Pain using a chain, but how these guys are used to KAW where there are no DQs or time limits and that matches continued until someone got their butt kicked. Lance replies that this is not that type of match, however if Lawler had been prepared he’d get in and do that kind of fighting with them. Bull misses an elbow off the middle rope, ‘The King’ then pulls down the strap and starts to fire back. He beats Pain down in the corner, picks him up for a piledriver and Morton is in to attack him for the DQ. 3 on 1 beatdown until Bill Dundee (carrying a board) makes the save and the two sides continue to fight as the show goes off the air. The first part of the match with Bull in charge was too repetitive, then it felt like the piledriver attempt and Morton’s interference came too quick. It was also sad to see Lawler pull down the strap and it garner more reaction from the commentators than the audience. The post-match was much more exciting than the match itself.

Robert Gibson joins Dave Brown and if you ever wondered why Ricky Morton did all the talking just watch this! Gibson talks 100 miles per hour, mumbles over his words and makes little sense. He’s still living in 1987, talking about how the Rock & Roll Express beat the Road Warriors, the Midnight Express and the Russians. When Dave mentions the Fantastics as another great team, Gibson dismisses them. Tommy Rogers is out to join them and Gibson changes tact and says how it’s good to see him. He claims that Dave has been trashing the Fantastics while he’s been sticking up for them. Rogers tells him that he’s known Dave a long time and he’s not like that, plus he was watching backstage on the monitor and saw everything. The two of them argue over who the better team was, with Rogers saying that the Fantastics won more matches, while Gibson responds that they were six time World tag team champions, until Tommy offers to cancel his match today and they can settle it themselves. A referee enters the ring and after a few more verbals the match is on. Gibson with a backdrop, an elbow followed by a big slam for a two. DDT then a schoolboy for another two. Gibson goes for a backdrop but Rogers reverses it into a backslide for a two of his own. Rogers with some boots to Gibson and he rams his head into the turnbuckle before Robert throws him out of the ring. Shoulder to the mid-section and a sunset flip back into the ring. Gibson grabs the second rope but the referee kicks his arms away and fast counts him down as Rogers cradles him whilst hooking the tights. Post-match Rogers tells Dave Brown that the Fantastics are the best, were the best, and he’s just proved they’re still the best. Gibson responds and all I’m able to understand is him mentioning that Rogers grabbed his tights and there is no way the Fantastics could beat the Rock & Roll Express. Just as this was getting going it was all over. I enjoyed the action between the two of them but wish it would’ve gone longer. I can understand the referee kicking Gibson’s arms away, but not sure why he would fast count him, unless he’s a Fantastics fan! I hope this is something that got explained later as it makes no sense for and ‘impartial’ referee to behave like that.

Triple threat match for the Young Guns title (which Dave Brown informs us has been held up for some time). King starts out attacking both until a very nice Frankensteiner by Michaels to him. Steel and Michaels team up for a double belly to back suplex on King, bouncing him off the top rope, but he flips back over them only to be then caught in a double flapjack. Steel whips Michaels into the turnbuckles and charges at him, but Michaels jumps over the top rope and on to the apron to avoid. He leaps to the top turnbuckle and comes off with a reverse crossbody. King goes to break up the pin by dropping an elbow, but Michaels moves and he hits Steel instead. King clotheslines Michaels over the top to the floor, a backdrop sends Steel out as well and then a crossbody from the top out onto both. Steel and King return to the ring and exchange blows, and Michaels with a double clothesline off the top. Steel with a double back elbow from the middle turnbuckle and this could go anyone’s way. King slams Michaels and Steel with a big splash off the top, but the two then argue over who should be the one to make the cover. Superkick by King to Steel for a near fall, and Lance Jade is out to cheer on Steel. Michaels takes a tumble to the floor and Jade rams him into the ringpost. Steel ducks a clothesline and King nails the official for our customary ref bump. Sadly there’s a jump in the footage and we appear to miss something between Steel and Jade. As Steel is distracted by him, King with a facebuster for the win and he’s the new Young Guns champion. I liked this a lot and a very nice change to the Memphis stuff we’ve seen so far. Fast paced and all three worked hard, busting out Junior Heavyweigh moves and bumping for each other. I spotted at least three jumps in the video and a damn shame that two appeared to be at significant points of the match. Good match and would have been even better without those jumps.