GSR

I wish Tegan was wearing jeans and a T-shirt as opposed to wresting gear for this.

After a slow, uncertain start that turned into a great match. Loved Dijakovic's fighting spirit after the Spirit Bomb. The springboard flip dive and Spanish Fly spots were nuts.

World Championship Wrestling: Sunday Edition the 10/26 episode.

The 8/3 Greenville show was a TV taping (for the Pro and Worldwide shows that aired 8/9) and a Horsemen vs. Rock & Rolls & Magnum match definitely took place that night (results were listed in the Greenville News). If you have the discs, just compare the crowd/arena of the Horsemen match to anything from those 8/9 shows and that will confirm (or not) whether 8/3 was the taping date. In addition, Spartanburg is probably the most easily identifiable JCP taping venue (with the posts) so that would be straight forward to recognise if it was taped there.

TBF Atlas only reported to the Peformance Center a couple of weeks ago. He debuted last week on a house show losing to Ridge Holland. Fantasma has still yet to debut, not even on the Florida loop. Who knows what's going on there considering the likes of Rita Reis and Briana Brandy were signed around the same time, are being trained from scratched and both have already debuted.

What's the state of play with Cornette and Bolin these days? If Corny can sever friendships with his best friend no surprise he can fall out /lose it with Dave. The way things are going the only friend he'll have left is that sycophant Last, who is quite happy to slag Dave off and make fun of him with Corny but will then use Dave as a vehicle to plug and promote his Arezzi podcast.

To the best of my knowledge no-one mentioned or contacted an admin about the Tessa thread. I, for one, was completely unaware of that until seeing this post (and have just seen it now). *EDIT* I've deleted the Tessa thread as the question was subsequently re-asked in the Impact thread. FWIW Mods can't access those threads either, not sure if Admin has the capability to. As I've said previously and as NintendoLogic reaffirmed, for some reason the board can't cope with accents/diacritics in thread titles, they just make the thread inaccessible. If there is a thread that has been started like that, contact someone to let us know. I'm not on as often as I used to be but Paul is about regularly, so is goodhelmet. I've not seen or heard anything from Charles for probably six months at the least (maybe more).

They're in the Megathread Archive https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/forum/227-megathread-archive/

Just done it. I too thought it was the British Kendo until reading Paul's copy and paste job.

The correct date for this is 1987-04-28, the date you have is the air date. Everything else for All Star appears to be correct.

It 100% was. They started with the first episode of Challenge and then continued airing them until they got into early '88.

STATS Number of matches watched: 1187 Breakdown of those matches: Singles - 801 Tags - 284 Six Mans - 56 Eights Mans - 8 Ten Mans - 2 Handicap - 27 Battle Royals - 9 Note: Three Way Dances, Four Corners matches etc are listed by the number of partipants, so a Three Way Dance tag match is listed under tags Number of matches watched per month: January - 97 February - 81 March - 73 April - 74 May - 92 June - 69 July - 105 August - 109 September - 136 October - 121 November - 113 December - 103 Unknown - 14 Date I watched the most matches from: 9 September - 19 Number of Promotions watched: 65 Number of matches watched for each Promotion: 269 - WCW 218 - WWF 152 - ECW 70 - MPPW 67 - MCW (Memphis) 46 - NWA Wildside 38 - IWA-MS 34 - OVW 24 - IWA-PR 19 - JAPW 18 - CZW 16 - IPW, TWA 15 - APW 13 - WWC 12 - ECWA, IWC SoCal, Portland 11 - MAW 9 - EWF 8 - ACW, FWA 7 - MCW (Maryland) 5 - ECCW, Inoki Bom Ba Ye, UPW, WOW 4 - FWA (UK), NWA Southwest 3 - BJW, JCW, OMEGA, Revolution Pro, Saitama Pro, Stampede, TASW, WXO, XPW 2 - CWF, iGeneration, IWO, LIWF, Music City, NECW, NWA 52nd Anniversary Show, PHPW, SDW, WWA Texas, ZIPANG 1 - BBP, FNW, IWA-CW, NWA Germany, NWL, Brian Pillman Memorial Show, SCWA, SPCW, SSW, TCW, USA Pro, UWC, UWF, WAW, WPW, ? Breakdown of the Big Three: ECW Fancams - 57 Hardcore TV - 38 TNN - 28 PPV - 29 WCW Nitro - 99 PPV - 38 Saturday Night - 19 Thunder - 96 Worldwide - 17 WWF Dark Matches - 3 Heat - 10 Jakked - 1 Metal - 7 PPV - 17 Raw - 100 Smackdown - 80 Number of Wresters watched: 705 Wrestler I've watched the most (number of matches listed first): 55 - Chris Benoit 51 - Chris Jericho 45 - Yoshihiro Tajiri 44 - Kurt Angle 43 - Jeff Jarrett 36 - American Dragon / Bryan Danielson, Derrick King 35 - The Rock, Wolfie D / Slash 33 - Edge, Steve Corino 31 - Billy Kidman, Booker T / G.I. Bro, Little Guido 30 - Christian, HHH, Scott Steiner, Spanky 29 - Bill Goldberg 28 - Mike Awesome 27 - Rey Mysterio Jr, Tracey Smothers 26 - Eddy Guerrero 25 - Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Sting 24 - Kevin Nash, Kid Kash, Lance Storm, Mikey Whipwreck, Rikishi 23 - Low Ki 21 - A.J. Styles, Hulk Hogan, Jerry Lawler, Ric Flair 20 - Bubba Ray Dudley, Christian York, Joey Matthews, Reckless Youth, Shannon Moore, Steven Regal / William Regal, Super Crazy The wrestler watched the most each month (number of matches listed first): January 8 - Yoshihiro Tajiri 7 - The Rock 6 - HHH, Little Guido February 5 - Little Guido, Ric Flair, Super Crazy 4 - Chris Benoit, Lex Luger, Road Dogg, Terry Funk, The Rock, Tracey Smothers 3 - Billy Gunn, Derrick King, HHH, Hulk Hogan, Jeff Jarrett, Rikishi, Scott Hall, Sid, Tommy Dreamer, Wolfie D, Yoshihiro Tajiri March 6 - Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair 5 - Chris Jericho 4 - Jeff Jarrett, Kid Kash, Kurt Angle, Yoshihiro Tajiri April 5 - Chris Benoit, Tazz 4 - Billy Kidman, Chris Jericho, Derrick King, DDP, Wolfie D 3 - Ali, HHH, Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Lawler, Mike Awesome, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, Yoshihiro Tajiri May 11 - Chris Jericho 9 - Chris Benoit 8 - Billy Kidman June 6 - Edge, Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle 5 - Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho 4 - Bill Goldberg, Bubba Ray Dudley, Christian, Kevin Nash, Reckless Youth, Rikishi July 7 - Chris Benoit, Lance Storm 6 - Billy Kidman, Christian, Edge, Jeff Jarrett, The Rock 5 - Chris Jericho, HHH, Kurt Angle August 7 - Chris Jericho 6 - Booker T, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Lance Storm, Yoshihiro Tajiri 5 - D-Von Dudley, Edge, HHH, Juventudd Guerrera, Rey Mysterio Jr September 8 - Kid Kash, Mikey Whipwreck 7 - Chris Benoit, The Rock 6 - Jerry Lynn, Juventud Guerrera, Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio Jr, Undertaker October 8 - Booker T, Scott Steiner 7 - Sting 5 - Eddy Guerrero, Jeff Jarrett, Mark Jindrak, Rey Mysterio Jr, Sean O'Haire November 8 - Bill Goldberg 6 - Yang 5 - Booker T, Steve Corino, Yoshihiro Tajiri December 7 - American Dragon, Derrick King, Spanky 6 - Bill Goldberg, Shooter Schultz, Tracey Smothers 5 - Chris Benoit, Matt Hardy, Shane Helms, Shannon Moore Unknown 4 - Ray Gonzalez 3 - Carly Colon, Head Hunter A, Necro Butcher 2 - El Bronco, Head Hunter B, Invader III, Ricky Banderas Match I've watched the most (number of times watched listed first): 9 - American Dragon vs Spanky 7 - Jeff Jarrett vs Booker T 6 - Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke vs Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri 5 - Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit vs Rikishi, Little Guido vs Super Crazy vs Yoshihiro Tajiri, Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke vs Danny Doring & Roadkill 4 - 3 Count vs Jung Dragons (Six Man), American Dragon vs Reckless Youth, Backseat Boyz vs Bad Crew, Chris Benoit vs Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho vs Eddy Guerrero, Derrick King vs Wolfie D/Slash, D-Von & Bubba Ray Dudley vs Matt & Jeff Hardy, Edge & Christian vs D-Von & Bubba Ray Dudley, Jerry Lawler vs Tazz, Lance Cade vs Tracey Smothers, Nick Dinsmore vs Rob Conway, Rhino vs Kid Kash, Steven Regal vs Reckless Youth, Sting vs Vampiro, The Rock vs Chris Benoit Number of Wrestler's who have used Bawitdaba: 8 (Bad Breed (Ian & Axl Rotten), Kid Kash, American Dragon, Ric Blade, Jet Jaguar, Joey Abs (for a music video), Suicide Kid and Sex & Violence (CM Punk & Jason Kronnan)) Worst manager: Shorti Favourite entrances: Backseat Boyz Lazz Favourite Entrance music: Rob Norwood 'Brick House' by The Commodores Holy Rollers 'Praise You' by Fatboy Slim Mark & Jay Briscoe 'Higher Ground' by Red Hot Chili Peppers Worst Promotion: PHPW Ric Blade Botches and Craziness: 1/8 - attempts to leap frog over the referee out onto Low Ki who is laid out on a table but comes up short and crashes and burns on the arena floor 3/18 - legdrop off the top of a basketball backboard through a table 5/19 - Swanton from the balcony or higher 6/10 - 450 splash from the top of a cage through a table 6/25 - overshoots a swanton from the roof of a trailer, misses his opponent and lands tailbone first on the grass 7/22 - nearly kills himself on a Shooting Star press to the floor by not rotating enough 7/22 - overshoots on a Swanton from the balcony landing on the concrete 8/12 - botches a Van Terminator, doesn’t even try to cover for it and just repeats the planned spot 8/12 - overshoots a Swanton from the top of the building onto two tables 11/11 - sells a kick that missed by a good foot and folds himself up landing on his neck in selling it 11/11 - kicks Nick Mondon in the head with the heels of his feet on a flip dive to the floor 11/18 - takes a Berk Driver from the Crow's nest of the ECW Arena to the floor 11/18 - the table is too far away and as he goes for a Swanton ends up kicking Berk in the face 11/18 - Swanton from above the entrance through a table, for once hit perfectly! Still a nutty thing to do though Number of OVW matches that had a ref bump: 14 - (which includes clips we saw from one spot show match) or 40% Best name for a move: Lazz's 'Britney Spear' Shane Helms 'Nighmare on Helms Street' Pet Peeves: Ref bumps Indy matches going too long Impromptu ECW matches Guerrero/Malenko sequences Stand-offs Favourite thing I've never seen before: Jeff G. Bailey promos

That looks very much like Kazuyuki ‘Iron Head’ Fujita as Inoki’s second. Someone presents them both with flowers and ‘the Chin’ thanks him by slapping him across the face to a big reaction. Double underhook suplex by Inoki. Gracie throws a kick, making sure it is well above Inoki’s head. Cartwheel pass. Renzo transitions from a triangle to an armbar. Inoki gets a bit more aggressive with his palm strikes then slaps on an abdominal stretch as the three minute time limit expires. We get a backstage interview from Renzo talking about it being an honour for him to share the ring with one of his heroes. He says how the family were a bit concerned how they would be seen participating in this, but he explained that it was only an exhibition and wouldn’t damage their credibility in any way. A serene, leisurely way to close the year out. 1187 matches watched, over half a million words written. 2000 in the bag, commitment complete.

Is there a more manlier team going than Don Frye & Ken Shamrock? Clips are shown of Takada tapping out Coleman with a heel hook to show what a deadly MMA fighter and submission artist he is. That’s a joke by the way; Coleman/Takada was a work. Shamrock, looking like a doppelganger for fellow Lion’s Den member Guy Mezger, walks out hand in hand with Alicia Webb (Ryan Shamrock in the WWF) and to what sounds like his WWF entrance music. Frye and Shamrock are eyeballing each other on the introductions, almost as if they’re reluctant partners here. Hot opening as Takada and Muto hurl their opponents through the ropes to the outside. Frye catches a kick, single leg takedown and he starts throwing headbutts to the grounded Takada. He looks for the cross armbar but Takada is able to get to the ropes. Muto and Shamrock are very tentative at first. Shamrock scissors the legs as he looks for an ankle lock, Muto keeping his wits about him and not letting him fully lock it in. Sunset flip into a heel hook on Takada, Takada escaping by blasting him with some hard chops to the chest. The Japanese “make-a-wish” before the Muto powerdrive elbow brings the crowd to life. Takada appears to have KO’d Shamrock with a head kick forcing ‘the Predator’ in there to buy his partner some time. A Shamrock rana seems to surprise the crowd and he’s back looking for the ankle lock. Frye throws punches to Muto’s knee then cinches in a single leg crab. As he wrenches back on the hold he’s open and Takada cheap shots him with a kick to the chest. The U.S. team appear to have a clear game plan to target the legs as both more than proficient when it comes to submissions. As Muto gets to the ropes for the break Frye refuses to do so, the referee having to physically involve himself. More rulebreaking by those no good Americans, Frye providing leverage from the apron, right in front of the official, as Shamrocks locks in a kneebar. Frye with punches from the mount on Takada, he transitions to side control, looking for the armbar, throwing knees to the mid-section at the same time. Takada with some knees of his own, from the bottom, forcing him to release his grasp. Muto throws ‘the Predator’ to the outside, grabs a chair from one of the commentator’s and jabs it into the side of his head. Frye and Takada jockey for position on the mat, Frye coming out on top, before the Americans unleash an array of suplexes, Shamrock with a delayed vertical into a Falcon Arrow. Cool gutwrench backbreaker from Frye. Similar to earlier in the match where the U.S. boys would be in charge, a spin kick out of nowhere stuns one of them, then their opponent rolls through for the tag. Muto takes out Frye’s legs with some low dropkicks and then lands the moonsault. A figure four on ‘the Predator’ is the start of the match breaking down, the ref having real trouble maintaining order in there. The finish comes out of nowhere, a Takada belly to back surprisingly putting Frye down for the three, ‘the Predator’ kicking out a millisecond after the official had bought his hand down to the mat for the third time. I don’t know whether that was a screw up, or the idea all along was for Frye to kick out a split second after the three. Tensions, which had been there at the onset but had subsided during the match, rear their heads again, Frye and Shamrock having to be separated as they have a heated pull apart. There was no flow to his match, there would be sudden bursts of activity and then nothing. Just as you think it was coming to life, it would settle back down, rinse, repeat. Rather than going almost thirty minutes I would’ve rather them gone fifteen with lots of stiff strikes, submission, grappling etc. as those things did happen in the match, it should’ve just been condensed. Frye exudes legit badness in there with the headbutts, KO’ing Takada at one point, manhandling the ref and I’m intrigued to check out his New Japan work as I’ve never seen any of that previously. In closing, disappointing because it never fully clicked like it could’ve and should’ve and was too meandering at times.

An independent dream team of sorts, ‘the Natural One’ Michael Modest and ‘the Fallen Angel’ Christopher Daniels, teaming up to take on the current APW tag team champions. There is an aggressiveness being shown by Modest and Thompson, the two powerhouses, and they have to be separated by their own partners in attempt to stop tempers boiling over. Long shine by the champions. Unfortunately fifteen minutes in, and with the footage having frozen numerous times already, combined with a bright light that is shining in your eyes on one of the camera angles, I tapped out and fast forwarded to the end. It was just too much for me to persevere with when there was still over twenty minutes of the match remaining. The champs end up retaining, Thompson hitting the froggy elbow on Daniels. Incidentally this was the last match I was planning to watch having kept putting it off because I knew how long it went, I couldn’t finish this way so watched something additional from the King of Indies tournament at the end of the month.

Francine has made it clear that there will be no nookie for Justin Credible until he wins back the ECW World title. H.C. Loc is reffing this, I would’ve thought one of the more experienced officials (i.e. Finnegan or Molyneux) would’ve gotten this gig. Joey Styles thinks it is worse to have won the World title than to have never won it at all. Can’t say I agree with that sentiment Joey. The opening shine is for Lynn until he gets stomped down by Credible, who had been the odd man out for the first few minutes. Corino whips him into the corner, Credible taking his bump over the turnbuckles. He is quickly joined on the outside by Corino, courtesy of a clothesline, as the match takes to the floor. Lynn throws Corino over the guardrail into the front row and was supposed to backdrop Credible onto him, however he lands hard, shin first, onto the steel instead. He’s not happy effing and jeffing and telling Lynn to “get off” him as he disappears for a bit to shake that banged up leg out prior to returning to the fray. A great call from Cyrus when talking about the strategy you should adopt in a three-way, explaining that you have to pick an opponent, pick a weakness and then go after it. You can’t bounce back and forth between both guys as you won’t achieve much that way. Lynn counters ‘That’s Incredible’ with a tombstone for a two count. Corino misses a chair shot and Lynn dropkicks it into his own face. Cradle piledriver to Corino on the chair. Francine is in and now trying to seduce Lynn. Great, just what’s wanted after the needless interference in the ‘Three Way Dance’. Credible gets behind Lynn however the former champion isn’t falling for Francine’s charms and when she goes to kick him in the groin he jumps up and she connects with Credible instead. JC goes to deck Jerry but he ducks and cracks Francine. He blocks the cradle piledriver, front kick, ‘That’s Incredible’ and Lynn is the first man out of there. Cyrus walks out of the broadcast booth on his elimination, claiming he can’t take any more after yet another “screw job”. The crowd are now chanting for the Sandman, do they know something I don’t? Credible and Corino end up on the outside again and fight towards the entrance way, Corino momentarily disappearing before returning with a ladder. We see Francine getting Atlas Security to check her jaw, still selling it, and doing a better job than most of the wrestlers on that front. Corino bridges the ladder up against the railing but Credible reverses the whip sending the champion hard into it. Back inside Credible opens up a chair, however just like the ladder ended up biting Corino on the backside, this bites Justin, a drop toe hold sending him crashing head first into it. A low blow sees him regain the momentum and he suplexes Corino onto the ladder. For the third time in the match they’re out at ringside with Credible using his Singapore cane as a weapon, jabbing it into Corino’s mid-section. The camera work has been real bad at times and again here as we lose the wrestlers as they head off into the crowd. This is actually appalling how bad it is. Next we see of them they’re up on the balcony where Credible takes Corino’s head off with a cane shot. He dumps the ‘King of Old School’ over the balcony, Corino hanging on by his fingertips, before two more shots see him fall to the floor. Well I say see, that was completely missed by the camera. Honestly, RF has been terrible with his filming at times but this is worse than even him. Despite falling from a balcony when they come back into view it’s Corino who is in control. A big slap fest as they take it in turns to brutalize the other’s chest with chops. Corino kicks out of ‘That’s Incredible’ as Joey Styles says “Justin Credible is just incredulous”, how long has he had that line in the bag ready to be used? Credible goes flying into the ladder after Corino moves, ‘Old School Expulsion’ and the champion retains. He doesn’t get chance to celebrate for long, Sandman out and obliterating a cane over Corino’s body. There’s your next challenger, Sandman claiming that the belt is his, even if Corino is the World champion.

After previously bloodying up Tommy Dreamer on Hardcore TV, C.W. Anderson is planning to use him here tonight as a stepping stone on his way to the World title. Joey Styles says though that “the heart and soul of ECW” should not be used as a stepping stone by anyone. Anderson doesn’t even let Stephen D’Angelis finish his introductions, spitting in the face of Dreamer and telling that “New York pussy” to fight him. Hangman’s neckbreaker by Dreamer and C.W. is already backing off, wondering whether riling Tommy up was in fact the smartest of moves. He offers a hand, his other behind his back, which Dreamer accepts, only to give him a Russian legsweep after pulling him up to his feet. Single arm DDT, tearing a page out of ‘the Enforcer’s’ book. Cyrus calls him a “master of psychology”, intimidating his opponent by using their own style against them. C.W. floats over on the attempted slam, shoulder stunner followed by a superkick. He throws Dreamer over the top rope to the floor where he traps his arm between a chair and the ringpost before bashing it twice with another chair. The fight heads off into the crowd, some of the fans more interested in mugging for the cameras rather than watching the action. It looks like Dreamer has regained the advantage only for C.W. to block the suplex and counter with a delayed one onto the concrete. On returning to the ring Anderson returns to targeting Dreamer’s arm. After wedging a chair between the top two turnbuckles, Tommy with the reversal and C.W. goes crashing shoulder first into the metal, both now fighting with just the one good arm. Dreamer drops C.W. across the upright part of a chair, climbs to the middle, crabs along the ropes, does his crucifixion pose with one arm and then drops an elbow. He grabs a towel from the ring crew, which he wraps around Anderson’s neck, and mimicking the way ‘Towel Boy’ dries the ropes prior to every match, does so with C.W. That looks pretty hokey in my eyes and takes away any seriousness from proceedings. Dreamer turns to the crowd laughing about it but pays for doing so with an Anderson right hand. C.W. grabs ‘Towel Boy’, yanking him into the ring and then whipping him at Tommy. As he charges, Dreamer lifts the ‘Towel Boy’ up and he kicks Anderson in the face. Yuck. Tornado DDT. Lou E. Dangerously is out and he breaks a phone over Dreamer’s head, leading to the actual boss, Paul E., laying Lou with his phone. These needless run-ins are very quickly taking me out of the match. The involvement of the ‘Towel Boy’, Lou E. and Paul E. was unnecessary and unwanted. ‘Spicolli Driver’ for a near fall. C.W. with the Ferris Wheel. Anderson comes a cropper again on the charge, ending up tied in the ‘Tree of Woe’ and having his head caved in with the baseball slide. Delayed piledriver. Dreamer takes too long climbing the turnbuckles and C.W. launches a chair into his face. Superplex onto a flattened out table. Rather than use that one, Anderson collects a table of his own from the under the ring which he bridges up in the corner. ‘Tommyhawk’ by Dreamer. Anderson blocks a second ‘Spicolli Driver’ and counters with a spinebuster through the table for the win. As he celebrates the win Joey Styles talks about a new dawning in ECW and ‘the Enforcer’ being the one leading the charge.

Good promo from Daniels prior to the match commencing, not happy that the ECWA inducted some gimp like Jeff Peterson into the Hall of Fame and not him. He says how he was going to team with Reckless Youth but decided to change things up and prove to everyone who the ‘King of the Independents’ really is. Reckless has some words of his own, the respect that he use to have for ‘the Fallen Angel’ gone with all the whining and crying that he’s been doing, while he takes great exception to the comments he made about Jeff Peterson. Like Scoot vs Low Ki these two are also working a fast pace, although it doesn’t seem so out of place as it did then. Daniels backdrops Reckless out onto the apron and clothesline him across the top rope. He steps out also, however Reckless shoulders him in the mid-section and hits an apron DDT. Some contrived forward roll into a flip dive over the top out onto Daniels. That doesn’t look good and gets booed. I don’t remember ever seeing him try that one before or since, probably a case of one and done, realising that it didn’t look good/was hard to pull off so consigned it to the bin. The ‘Fallen Angel’ takes over following an enziguiri, pushing the rules to the limit on occasion as he makes the most of the referee’s five count. As he climbs the turnbuckles to mouth off at the fans he’s caught by Reckless who hits a Russian legsweep from the middle. Daniels cuts off the comeback with a leg lariat as Reckless takes to the outside. Arabian moonsault to the floor. Rear chinlock as he looks to slow down the pace. Reckless frees himself at the third time of asking, Daniels’ underhand tactics and hair pulling preventing him from doing so at first. Asai moonsault. He springs to the top turnbuckle and lands the frog splash, however Daniels is able to get a shoulder up on the cover. Huracanrana for a near fall. Daniels stuns him with a palm strike when he heads back upstairs and slams him to the mat. ‘Best Moonsault Ever’, which I’m thinking may need to undergo a name change as it never gets the job done. Reckless kicks out of the ‘Angel’s Wings’ before Daniels kicks out after a brainbuster. I’m starting to sense some non-decision here while the crowd are getting burned out by all these kick outs. Well I was wrong on the non-decision front; Reckless’ shoulders getting counted to the mat as they run through the Guerrero/Malenko stretch. For the second time in the match something gets booed, the finish seen as an anti-climax after everything they’ve been kicking out of up to this point.

A two out of three falls match to determine the first ACW champion, or so I thought. A highly excitable Dave Prazak accompanying Chris Hero tonight as well as some blonde who is introduced later. As the two take it in turns to say what they’re thankful for, you hear someone catcall from the crowd “I’ll be thankful when this ends!” Nice transition from a full nelson into a hammerlock, Zaya snapmaring his way out of it. Hero tries to stunner his way out of a hammerlock, however Zaya lets go so it doesn’t have the impact he desired. With Zaya continually getting the better of him he’s out on the floor to be consoled by Prazak and the blonde, doing so more often than once. While coming across as a “cry-baby” to the fans it is also stopping Zaya’s momentum. After landing an armdrag he is leaping around as though he’s won the match, not that he’s just gotten his first offensive move in! Zaya fakes him on the armdrag before catching him with one of his own and then clotheslining him to the outside. Hero doesn’t quite manage to take the conventional backwards bump over the top rope like 99% of people on this spot so ends up rolling under the bottom. I actually prefer it that way as it looks way more realistic. Barmy head first suicide dive. Hero counters the attempted hiptoss with some indyrriffic move and beckons on the crowd’s boos as they let him have it. He drops a knee across Zaya’s throat being pretty measured with his attack. Modified surfboard. Running elbow smash in the corner. After kicking out of a sit-out slam Hero goes for it a second time, however Zaya fight his way free and hits a tornado DDT for a near fall. Hero counters whatever he had planned and throws Zaya to ringside where Prazak puts the boots in while he keeps the referee busy. He follows him out as the two then trade hard slaps to the chest. More distraction from Hero, this time so that his valet can get involved, slapping Zaya as he is draped over the ropes. Zaya counters the Fisherman’s suplex with an inside cradle for a near fall as we get a flurry of flash two counts. Both throw forearms, which connect at the same time, knocking the other down. Top rope rana by Zaya. A dangerously low Swanton and Prazak is up on the apron. Zaya clubs him, but the additional seconds allow Hero to kick out of the subsequent cover. As he again heads upstairs the valet shakes the top rope causing him to lose his balance. ‘Hero’s Welcome’ and Hero takes the first fall. No, this is over, it’s not two out of three falls afterall. Why on earth did I have it in my head and written everywhere that this was a two out of three falls match? That certainly explains why there were all those near falls and kicks out, in what I thought was the first fall, as I was wondering what on earth was going on as it was nothing like any best of three fall match I’d seen previously. In addition with time running down on the video counter I was thinking how this was going to end. Flash second fall? Double KO? Ideally I should watch it again as expecting three falls, and being conditioned to how those matches usually go, did effect my viewing. Hero was real good though and I agree that the three-way later in the evening may well have been a result of everyone working twice earlier, even if Punk and Pearce didn’t exactly bust a gut in their match.

FWA British championship match, Justin Richards the current champion. The wrestling here is really tight, Travell keeping hold of Richards’ arm for several minutes and not letting go as he continually works that body part over. I did like how Richards tried to snapmare Travell out of the hammerlock, only for the challenger to go with it and still keep it applied. Eventually Richards backs him into the corner, with speed, and that causes him to release his grip. Northern Lights suplex by the champion. Double underhook into a backbreaker, dropping Travell across his own knee. Richards throws him through the ropes to the outside and then drops a Cactus elbow from the apron. Travell reverses the whip sending Richards crashing into the ringpost. Dropkick from the apron to the floor. Back inside he connects with that cool Savio Vega spinning kick, his own momentum taking him over the top rope. The champion with a clothesline after reversing the Irish whip, nice that he sells the arm after Travell’s earlier working over of it, just a shame that he’d completely forgotten about it up to this point. No problems with that arm when he runs through an array of suplexes, ending by front suplexing Travell and dumping him across the top rope. Travell blocks having his head rammed into the corner and slams Richards’ head into it instead. Spinebuster followed by a Lionsault. He lands a guillotine legdrop, rather than make the cover though he decides to head back upstairs. This time he spends too long playing to the crowd and Richards shakes the ropes causing him to crotch himself. Superplex. Travell catches him with a suplex before he’s off up top again, connecting with the big splash. Richards gets his foot over the ropes to break the count, but Travell doesn’t realise and thinks the referee has counted the three. As he grabs the belt and starts jumping up and down like he’s won, Richards snatches him with a Dragon suplex for the win. To use a football cliché, a tale of two halves. The opening parts of this were superb where they concentrated purely on the wrestling, each man trying to get the better of the other in the grappling stakes. It had a real throwback feel to the classic World of Sport stuff of two decades earlier. The second half was too high spot driven for my liking, the transitions, which were evident in the opening minutes, non-existent and a distant memory. While Richards did sell the arm, once, with that clothesline, he really should’ve sold it more than he did. A better match than the three way but I wish they would’ve stuck to the grappling and not ended up going down the route that they did. Finish does Travell no favours as he looks pretty foolish, celebrating like he’s won after the ref has clearly only slapped the mat twice.

Originally scheduled to be a one on one match, Steve Corino challenging for Jerry Lynn’s ECW World title, but C.W. Anderson interrupts before the bell and talks his way into the match (while he has nothing but respect for Jerry Lynn he can understand why he’d rather face a Corino than an Anderson cos’ not only is he the World Heavyweight champion, he’s also a pussy), Lynn deciding that it’s going to be an ‘impromptu’ Three Way Dance instead. What is it with ECW and their ‘impromptu’ matches? Corino gets clotheslined over the top rope to the outside and C.W. quickly joins him out there. As the two trade punches on the floor Lynn wipes them out with a somersault senton. We’re reminded that a ‘three way dance’ means that it’s elimination rules and the last man standing will be the World champion. Corino and C.W. end up in the front row and Lynn sails over the barricade with a double clothesline. They fight their way amongst the fans over to what looks like the concession’s table. C.W. with the reversal, suplexing Lynn onto the table. He’s launching garbage cans about with reckless abandon, even sticking one over the champion’s head. Corino, who was wearing a band aid on his forehead, is already busted open, his blonde locks starting to turn red. We take a break for some commercials and on our return Lynn is about to paint his face/chest with Corino’s blood, only for C.W. to superkick him before he can do so. Anderson alternates his attack between the two as he stomps away on them. Shoulder stunner for Lynn, single armed DDT on Corino, it looks like he’s hedging his bets and targeting the arm of both. Seated armbar, although, naturally, even though this is elimination rules, rather than letting that play out and hope Corino submits, Lynn kicks him around the side of the head to break it up. The champion hammers away on C.W., only having limited use of that one arm due to Anderson’s efforts of working it over. Corino is now targeting the same arm, picking up where C.W. left off. Sit-out powerbomb on Lynn. C.W. fires a chair at Lynn, who ducks, and it takes out Corino instead. Near falls galore with all sorts of reversals, cradles and backslides. The three slug it out the middle of the ring until a Corino double Bionic elbow floors his two opponents. Anderson dents a chair over Jack Victory’s head while Corino reverses the reversal of the ‘Old School Expulsion’ into a Northern Lights suplex. Justin Credible is out and canes anyone in sight. Lynn with the cradle piledriver on Corino and the number one contender is the first man eliminated. C.W. waits for the champion to get back to his feet and lands the Ferris Wheel for a two count. Joel Gertner gives us a rundown of previous ECW World title changes that occurred in Three Way Dances. I think that was supposed to put over how much jeopardy the champion is in a match like this because, but I think it was more so they could mention Steve Austin was in ECW once which they tend to try and do at every opportunity. History doesn’t repeat itself here though, Lynn blocking the spinebuster and hitting the cradle piledriver on C.W. for the win less than ninety seconds after he had sent Corino packing.

Yeah, for some reason the board can't deal with it when accents are used in titles of threads so just leave them off.

Two men who have both failed in their recent attempts to dethrone Sabu for the NWA World title. Steve Martin replaces Dan ‘the Dragon’ Wilson on commentary and promises that they’re going to finish Air Paris once and for all, a guy who has been a troublemaker in Wildside since day one. Styles slides under the ropes to the outside, he’s not getting a breather here though, Paris nailing him with a baseball slide that sends him backwards over the barricade into the first row. Jeff G. Bailey does what Jeff G. does, interfering when the referee’s back is turned. Steven Prazak hopes that Martin isn’t going to be interfering too and that we’ll get a clean finish tonight. Paris kicks A.J. in the groin as Bailey looks over towards Martin, almost as if he’s looking at him for help. Martin is sticking to his guns, at least for the time being, saying he’s going to let Styles take care of him, he doesn’t need to do anything. Air lifts Styles up onto his shoulders into a torture rack position, but A.J. fires off some punches to free himself. Samoan drop into a stunner by Styles. More interference courtesy of Jeff G., putting the boots in after Paris had been thrown to the floor. Another low blow and Bailey is getting more and more infuriated with the referee as he misses seeing the ‘cheap shot’ again. I know, the irony. Paris with a huracanrana, but even though A.J. dumps him out over the top rope, Air holds on and takes him out with him. Styles crotches him over the barricade before collecting a table from the back of the building. Air blocks the attempted suplex and reverses things, suplexing A.J. onto the wooden floor. Slingshot somersault legdrop. He repositions that table but perhaps should’ve continued the attack as Styles low blows him. No complaining from Bailey about that one! A.J. climbs the turnbuckles only for Paris to start firing back and, with both stood on the top turnbuckle, they fall out to ringside going through the table. That did have a look of when Rocco Rock and 2 Cold Scorpio went through three tables at the ECW Arena. ‘Death Valley Driver’ by Paris followed by a superkick, which A.J. takes a great bump from. Styles with a rolling German, he then holds on and pancakes Paris to the mat. Jeff G. throws his man a chair, the ref for unknown reasons letting this go. It doesn’t matter though as Air kicks it into his face anyway. As he heads up top, Bailey gives him a shove causing him to come crashing down hard. Swanton bombm for a near fall. A suicideplex takes it out of both men, however Paris unknowingly drapes an arm over A.J. and Styles is so out of it that his shoulders get counted to the mat for three. Bailey assaults referee Jimmy Rivers post-match and then start pummelling Paris, while Steve Martin leaves the commentary desk to join the fun. After Onyx makes it three-on-one, John Phoenix and Adam Jacobs even things up. The Cole Twins puts the advantage back in the Elite’s favour when... Bob Sapp is out for the save!!! Sapp looks ginormous, dwarfing the Boogaloo Crew (and I thought Scotty Wrenn was a big dude) who he is with, the Elite fleeing the moment they set eyes on him.

Despite the people making plenty of noise to God’s gift of professional wrestling and the first King of the Indies, Christopher Daniels lets them know that they still suck! Daniels offers a hand to ‘the Funboy’ which is accepted. Grappling heavy as both are looking for an early advantage. Nice headscissors takedown by Morgan which Daniels kips up out of. We have a tease of each man’s finisher, Morgan snapmaring his way out of the ‘Roll the Dice’. Daniels steps out to have a words with some fans who’re on his case, although that doesn’t sit too well with Morgan telling him over the house mic that he should be taking this seriously and that when he gets back in the ring he’s going to kick his ass all over the building. Morgan starts working over the arm, Daniels grabbing it with the other to prevent the extension on the cross armbar before eventually reaching the ropes with a leg for the break. Double underhook suplex. A stiff elbow to the jaw flattens ‘the Fallen Angel’ who looks for some solace on the apron, only to get nailed with a springboard dropkick that sends him sprawling out to ringside. Tope con hilo. Daniels is to his feet first and slams Morgan’s arm into the guard rail before hammerlocking it and running him into the ringpost. Good to see a bit of old school breaking the referee’s ten count by sliding into the ring and then straight back out to continue the attack. Abdominal stretch is applied near the ropes and I really like how Daniels shows the audience his hand so you know what’s fully coming next. If you don’t, think what IRS does in every match when he applies the same hold. He gets distracted though when jawing with them, the ref catching him in the act and then breaking it. Morgan misses a crossbody, Daniels pointing to his head like he’s outsmarted him. A great enziguiri that completely flips ‘the Funboy’ over. Spinning sideslam followed by a uranage. Daniels runs into a big boot as Morgan starts his comeback, although there is so little fire in it. Suicideplex. They run the Guerrero/Malenko pinfalls and reversals sequence, the near falls and two counts coming thick and fast. Morgan reverses the whip to the corner sending Daniels chest first into the turnbuckles. Daniels kicks out after a Michinoku Driver and then Morgan after the ‘Angel’s Wings’, both kick outs getting a fantastic reaction from the crowd. Daniels has a look of “what do I have to do to beat this man” on his face. He hooks the middle rope to prevent himself from being taken down on the backslide and then this awesome reversal which I’ve never seen before puts ‘the Funboy’s’ shoulders down for the three as ‘the Fallen Angel’ becomes the first ‘King of the Indies’. Morgan hands over the trophy, the two shaking hands as they are then joined by Roland Alexander who congratulates them both and invites the rest of the participants out to share in the moment. The match built really well, the crowd getting more and more into it the longer it went. Similar to a few other matches this year, something that wouldn’t have looked out of place towards the upper end of early Ring of Honor cards. Very pleased that they didn’t overdo the kickouts either as I thought that may happen after Morgan kicked out of the Angel’s Wings. The actual finish was spectacular, I’ve not seen a reversal like that before or since. I thought Daniels was tremendous here and Morgan, as always, is fundamentally sound, there’s just no emotional attachment from me, or the fans it would seem. There was zero fire in his comeback and it was like Daniels was doing the work of two to keep the fans invested. I know Michael Modest often suffered the same criticisms as Morgan but he’s light years ahead of him in every aspect as far as I’m concerned.