GSR

Punk and Dave Prazak interrupt some presentations that are taking place, with Prazak announcing that Punk has been voted the ‘Wrestler of the Year’ even though he’s only been here since January 2000! Not only does this mean the fans clearly love him, but also his choice of soft drink too! Prazak has been fed some duff information somewhere along the line as it turns out that Dino Bambino has actually been voted ‘Wrestler of the Year’. As Punk throws a hissy fit, sitting down on the mat and banging his legs, Prazak tells him not to worry as there are more awards. The next one is for the ‘Fan’s Favourite Wrestler’ which they again seem to think Punk has won, only this time it goes to former WWF jobber Frankie DeFalco. Punk does end up taking home one award though, that of ‘Most Hated Wrestler’, to which Prazak’s response is “you’ve got to be ribbing?” The crowd breaks out into a “Pepsi sucks!” chant to which Punk says how he doesn’t want to hear anyone saying anything about Pepsi for the remainder of the fucking evening! He spots a girl in the front row and tells the audience if they want to know what sucks it’s this girl here with the number ‘13’ on her top; thirteen standing for the number of penises she can fit in her mouth at once! Colt races out from the dressing room and peppers Punk with a series of jabs. Nice combination hammerlock/straight arm bar submission. Silver King dive to the floor onto Punk and Prazak which is really impressive given Cabana’s size. Prazak is showing the effects of that dive but Colt is right back on Punk with some Ted Dibiase style fist drops. Punk reverses the whip to the corner and as Cabana goes for the tip up, he boots him between the legs. He’s now taking a page out of the Tajiri play book by mocking his opponent’s suffering. Cabana counters the German suplex and plants Punk with an almighty round the world slam. The two exchange chops with Colt eventually flooring Punk after a vicious sounding one. A Punk right hands sends Cabana tumbling to the floor where Prazak puts the boots to him and even drops an elbow, getting an ironic “holy shit” chant for his efforts. Springboard dropkick by Punk. Colt reverses the lackadaisical cover and gets a near fall off a springboard sunset flip, just like the one Kwee Wee did in the tag match on Thunder against the Natural Born Thrillers. Things were going so well and then Punk slips when attempting a step up rana. They quickly improvise so that Punk is back in the ascendancy and although it didn’t look good, kudos for trying. Reverse rana by Punk, spiking Cabana on the top of his head and I’m guessing that was the move they botched previously. Punk collects a chair and wedges it between the top turnbuckles while at the same time dealing with a heckler. The Irish whip is reversed and I don’t know if they screwed up again but it looks like it as Punk falls to the mat under the chair. Yup, they blew it as Colt immediately whips Punk into it. Punk boots Cabana in the mid-section, causing him to drop the chair, and he teases cracking Colt with it but doesn’t as he’s “straight edge”. That gets plenty of boos from those in attendance. Split legged moonsault, but Cabana grabs the chair and places it over his own chest so Punk crashes into it. He sits Punk on the top turnbuckle when he’s attacked by Prazak. That has no effect and he lays Prazak out with a DDT, however the interference has given Punk enough time to recover and he hits the ‘Pepsi Plunge’ for the win. Oh yeah, Punk is using ‘Shitlist’ by L7 as his entrance music here which is cool. Don’t sleep on all the pre-match Awards presentation as that is great fun, especially Punk and Prazak’s reactions to everything. The match itself was a vast improvement on what these two were putting on together last year and was really good up until that botch on the rana (I’m certain that when Punk slipped under the chair in the corner was a blown spot too). It seems like there’s definite improvements in Punk’s work and that’ll be interesting to see as to whether that is because he’s working with his friend or because he has genuinely improved. Punk’s crowd interactions, dealing with the hecklers are a real joy.

Even though this is a tag team match Goldberg’s streak is still on the line and considering DeWayne Bruce’s won/loss record I would be pretty darn concerned if I were him! We get a recap from Thunder where ‘Totally Buff’ broke Sarge’s arm and Goldberg wasn’t able to help his trainer because Kronik had already taken care of him. Disco Inferno is providing additional commentary and wonders why Sarge isn’t back at the Power Plant and why Goldberg is risking his career by having him as his partner? My thoughts exactly. The teams pair off with Clark and Sarge going at it in the ring while Adams and Goldberg fight it out on the floor. Wrist clutch suplex by Clark who then heads out to help his partner. Schiavone is a bit surprised that they’re going after Goldberg but Disco says its good strategy as they know they can beat Sarge at any time, so if they keep Goldberg out of there the result won’t be in doubt. Clark targets Sarge’s broken arm slamming it into the ring post and the apron. Scott Hudson wonders how he is even conscious after that (he didn’t hit him in the head Scott!) although Tony answers stating that Sarge is one of the toughest men ever to grace a wrestling ring. Said without a hint of sarcasm! Sarge counters the suplex with a pretty ropey looking DDT and makes the tag. Adams boots Goldberg in the gut and plants him with a full nelson slam. “Unbelievable” that they are manhandling him like this according to Schiavone. They go for ‘High Times’ but Goldberg fights his way out of it. Side kick to Clark and a spear for Adams. ‘Totally Buff’ are out and jump Sarge on the floor, unaware to Goldberg who is handling things in the ring. Jackhammer on Clark for the win and now he sees what is going on. He goes to help his trainer, but Luger clocks him with the cast that they ripped off Sarge’s arm and Bagwell then chokes him with a chair, as they leave their opponents for Sin laying. While I’m not a fan of this feud continuing and even more so Goldberg having to team up with DeWayne Bruce, a decent angle at the end here leading into the PPV.

Serious Lance was hoping to start 2001 in a good mood, but after the act of vandalism perpetrated by the Filthy Animals last week on Thunder that’s out the window. He challenges them to a ‘Canadian Penalty Box’ match at the PPV, which means that if someone breaks the rules at any point during the match they get locked in the box and the other team gets a one man advantage. A fast paced opening here that sees Storm gain the early advantage after blocking a suplex and countering with a face first variety where he dumps Kidman over the top rope. As Skipper distracts the referee, Lance then wedges a chair in the corner between the turnbuckles. Kidman escapes the abdominal stretch and hip tosses Storm over the top rope, however he lands on the apron and then snaps his neck across it. Springboard plancha back inside but Kidman catches him with a dropkick as both men go down. Storm ducks the clothesline and floors Kidman with a standing side kick. Kidman kicks out of the roll up and in doing so sends Lance crashing into the chair that he’d positioned earlier. He rolls him up, but at the count of two Mike Awesome and Major Gunns reach into the ring and pull Kidman off their man. A big old brawl between the Filthy Animals and Team Canada follows as the action continues in the ring, Kidman picking up the win after a ‘Kid Crusher’. This only goes about four minutes but is a good short TV match that adds a bit more fire to the Team Canada/Filthy Animals feud.

A WWC stadium show and we join this in progress, Gang already bleeding as he and Colon go at it on the baseball field. Abby is practically immobile here and remains in the ring; probably fearful that he would struggle to get back in it should he leave. Gang snatches a spike away from Colon and jabs him with it. Carlos is looking as old as dirt while Abby’s sagging man boobs are something else. They return to the ring so he doesn’t feel left out and it’s not long before he joins the other two in being busted open. The ‘brawling’ here is pitiful. Rico Suave runs out and powders ‘the Butcher’ as Carlos goes back to spiking Gang with that foreign object. He drops him with a headbutt but then can’t fully apply the figure four, his legs being too old or Gang’s being too fat. Talking of fat we get another run in, a huge guy, bigger than Abby, that I don’t recognise although who resembles your stereotypical IWA-MS death match worker. After fatty breaks up the figure four by splashing Carlos he’s attacked by ‘the Butcher’ who had been taking a breather in the corner. Abby jabs him in the head with his fork and forgoes the match to follow him out to the floor. Carlos fires up, kicks Gang low and then blasts him with his own chain to become the first WWC Hardcore champion.

On the very first episode of Smackdown in 2001, Chris Jericho says that he will win the Intercontinental title and will do so in front of all these ‘Jerichoholics’. He goes on to say how that if it wasn’t for Lt. Commissioner Debra he wouldn’t be here tonight, and if it wasn’t for ‘old lady’ Benoit forgetting to take her birth control pills Chris Benoit wouldn’t be here either! That brings out the ‘Rabid Wolverine’ who thinks that Y2J should take his own advice and “shut the hell up”. Benoit ducks a clothesline and dumps the challenger on the back of his head. After whipping Jericho chest first into the turnbuckles he looks for the crossface, however they’re too close to the ropes and Y2J grabs them for the break. Jericho reverses the Irish whip and a boot to the mid-section followed by a bulldog. There’s no-one home on the Lionsault and as Benoit starts the rolling German suplexes, Jericho blocks the second and counters with ‘the Walls’. As he tries to turn him over, Perry Saturn sprints out from the dressing room and attacks him from behind for the DQ. Dean Malenko is down there too, orchestrating things, until the Hardy Boyz make the save and run ‘the Radicalz’ off. Just storyline advancement as we only got a few minutes of action before the run ins.

Earlier in the show the ‘boss’, Ric Flair, told Jindrak that he had something in store for him and that he’s going to turn the tables on ‘the Thrillers’. Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay are none the wiser on who he is facing, although they really should be paying attention more because as I said last year, whenever you don’t know who you’ll be facing or someone has a surprise opponent for you, more often than not it’s Goldberg! Goldberg picks Jindrak up as if for a bodyslam but dumps him over the top to the outside instead. I don’t know if he hurt himself there as something doesn’t look right. Jindrak with a springboard crossbody back inside, however Goldberg catches him mid-air and powerslams him to the mat. Spear, Jackhammer, new year, same outcome.

Shane Helms is the current number one contender for Chavo Guerrero Jr’s Cruiserweight title having earned that after defeating his 3 Count partner Shannon Moore a fortnight back on Nitro. Tony Schiavone talks about him having moved away from the tag team scene, so this looks like the start of a singles push. As Noble climbs the turnbuckles to pose to the fans, Helms grabs him and slams him backwards to the mat. Cool double underhook variation of the abdominal stretch that Noble powers out of and reverses into a backslide. Helms with a fist drop off the middle for a near fall. Noble counters ‘the Nightmare’ into a Northern Lights, however when he goes for a second Helms blocks it and fires off a series of knees to the mid-section. He hits the ‘Vertabreaker’ but isn’t done yet, giving Noble the ‘Nightmare on Helms Street’ for good measure and, according to Schiavone, “sending a message to the Cruiserweight champion”. A bunch of run-ins follow post-match, although it ends with Chavo clocking Helms with his title belt and standing tall. Highly disappointing to be fair in what was a slower paced and more grounded match than I was expecting going in. Helms deserves this push after his efforts and work in 2000 and I look forward to following it until the end of the company. Oh, and the ‘Nightmare on Helms Street’ might be the best name for a move in all of wrestling.

Stephanie McMahon is the guest referee which automatically doesn’t bode well for ‘Stone Cold’. ‘The King’ points out how it’s hypocritical for JR to think it’s great when Mick Foley would pull a trick like this, but not so when Stephanie does it. He’s got a point. Austin with a Thesz press and he then unloads with rapid piston like right hands into Regal’s face. He repeatedly slams his head into the turnbuckles before choking him around the throat, using every bit of those five seconds and paying no attention to Stephanie’s instructions. ‘Stone Cold’ continues to ignore and disobey her, firstly following Regal to the floor after she had told him to stay inside and then when she tells him to “keep it in the ring” immediately takes it back outside. Oh yeah, not forgetting to give her the bird which draws plenty of laughter from the fans. They finally do return to the ring and Austin covers Regal after three vertical suplexes only for Stephanie to stop her slow count at two making out as though she’s got something in her eye. As she turns her back on him to rub it, he gives her a shove on the backside and she tumbles out through the ropes. Earl Hebner runs down to take her place as Austin and Regal go toe to toe exchanging blows. He checks on Stephanie and as he does so, Regal with a low blow to Austin before clubbing Earl in the back of the head and KO’ing him. His Lordship pulls Stephanie back into the ring, but runs into an Austin spinebuster. ‘Stone Cold’ makes the cover, however Stephanie is in the corner seemingly still not recovered from earlier. Austin goes over to her and grabs her by the hair when Regal schoolboys him and Stephanie fast counts his shoulders to the mat. She high tails it back up the ramp way in front of the Titantron where she erroneously announces the winner as “Steven Regal”, as JR goes off on how Austin warned her and she has no idea what she has done. Fun stuff here.

Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn, accompanied by Terri, make their way out to provide guest commentary for the upcoming tag match. I certainly didn’t think that in 2001 the name ‘the Radicalz’ would still be in operation, but that’s what they’re referring to these two as. A blinkered Malenko still seems to believe that he’s the apple of Lita’s eye and if Matt wants to go one on one with him over her, he’s happy to do so any time. Jim Ross wonders why a married man like him is lusting after her, however he claims that in his family it’s his wife who is married, not him! Double wheelbarrow suplex on Taka and Funaki is in to break up the cover. Matt drags him to the outside and the Hardyz with the old ‘Hart Attack’ on him, Jeff flying off the barricade to deliver the clothesline . The brothers forget about Taka though who wipes them out with an Asai moonsault. Combination camel clutch/dropkick to the face on Jeff. As Taka comes off the middle he gets a foot up and hits a jawbreaker before making the hot, actually more like tepid, tag. A Taka superkick prevents the ‘Twist of Fate’ as all four men end up in the ring. Fuck, Funaki ducks out the way of ‘Poetry in Motion however Jeff is able to readjust and land on the top turnbuckle. He then goes to leap from there out onto Taka, only slips, and lands bollock first right on the ring post. As he crashes down to ringside I can’t begin to imagine how painful that was. Somehow he still finishes the match, hitting the ‘Swanton bomb’ after a ‘Twist of Fate’. Post-match Lita says something to Malenko, ‘the King’ naively thinking that she wants him, but when he leaves his seat he’s attacked from behind by Matt. Saturn tries to help his fellow Radical although gets taken out by a flying Jeff.

A distressed Stephanie McMahon, who is covered in mustard, is in her dressing room and on the phone to her father. Vince doesn’t seem overly sympathetic towards her, basically saying that she’s a McMahon and to man up. Trish Stratus enters the room and you hear the tone in his voice change immediately on realising she’s there. He announces an additional match for tonight’s show, Chris Benoit to defend his Intercontinental title against Test, and Steph wonders what Test has done to deserve a title shot? Vince is in no mood for getting an earful from his daughter or having to explain his actions so claims that they’re “going through a tunnel” and “he’s losing her” as he hangs up the phone! Trish has this almighty grin on her face thinking that she’s schmoozed the boss, only for Steph to tell her that her big breasted tactics may work with men but they don’t with her and she can forget about hanging out with the McMahon family as there is only one dominant female in the McMahon’s and that’s her! Test is getting himself ready in his dressing room when he’s joined by Trish. The team of T&A are no more and he’s seemingly done with her too; saying how she’s been more interested in her Sugar Daddy recently and he couldn’t care less for a match against Chris Benoit as the only match he wants is against Albert. Trish uses those charms to good effect again, talking about him being the only person she wants to have anything to do with, how he’s always been the star and that’s why she chose him first. They will get to Albert but tells him tonight they need to concentrate on the Intercontinental title as she wants to be there to raise his hand when he becomes champion. That does the trick and the two of them leave together. Test has got some nice high impact offense such as the full nelson slam and the gut wrench powerbomb. Benoit escapes the pump handle and snatches Test’s arm as he looks for the crossface, the challenger forced to desperately scramble to the bottom rope for the break. Belly to back suplex. After ‘The Crippler’ runs face first into a big boot Test heads upstairs. Out from the dressing room sprints Albert and, on seeing him, Test with a plancha from the top turnbuckle to the floor before whipping him into the ring steps. Tilt-a-whirl slam followed by a big pump handle slam. Test again climbs the turnbuckles, this time though Trish is up on the apron and gives him a shove as he falls to the mat. Benoit makes the cover to retain as Trish goes to check on Albert, JR and ‘the King’ a bit confused over what’s just gone on. The former T&A go at it post-match, a bunch of officials out to try and separate the pair.

I was in the Central region and the only wrestling we used to get there was one hour a week late Monday night/early Tuesday morning. For a couple of years it was the WWF International Challenge show, but they stopped showing that at some point in 1989 and then we got a random assortment of shows taking it's place for about another year. Some old Georgia/Mid-Atlantic, ICW (Kevin Sullivan, Mark Lewin, Billy Graham, Blackjack Mulligan era), the Florida Global Wrestling show (Dr Red Roberts, Col. Kirchner, Death Row), Dusty's PWF and even some NWA (I clearly remember seeing highlights of Bash '89). Summer of 1990 is when my parent's got Satellite and as Butch said there was a ridiculous amount of wrestling available. Screensport also aired All-Star Wrestling's 'Satellite Wrestling' that ran for about twelve episodes. We got UWFI too, although I forget on what channel (Sky Sports?) Finally, Roller Derby aired on Lifestyle in the hour prior to the 82/3 WCCW episodes. That used to be a two hour Sunday afternoon ritual for me, Roller Derby then vintage World Class.

John Savage is the future Johnny Smith and this is from the original airing (as opposed to being from TWC) so we join the action just after Savage has surprised Rudge with the first fall. The second fall, or session as they are calling it sees Rudge go to work on every part of Savage’s left arm, from the shoulder all the way down to his fingers which he bends backwards and manipulates. With Rudge everything he does is designed to try and hurt his opponent; that is evidenced when he whips Savage into the turnbuckles. This isn’t just your casual Irish whip you’d see on WWE TV, its full force, everything into it. Three of those postings soften Savage’s back and he submits to a Boston crab. Like many WOS bouts there is little drama in the deciding fall, Rudge returning to the Boston crab which he gets at the third attempt after another posting.

This was on a flash drive with a bunch of stuff I’d downloaded from YouTube but not got around to watching so thought it was about time I did. Excellent picture quality given the bout’s age, although it turns out this is heavily clipped. The US girls are the heels here and Obata’s hot tag in the first fall is something else, she’s swinging her arm like she’s Mick Channon in there. Green evens things up, pinning Chigusa to the sound of cricket’s chirping. It’s that quiet that I even wonder whether it was a fall or not. It was. In the decider Chigusa ends up on the outside in the heels corner where they start double teaming her. Obata is around to help her partner out, joined by their second who wallops Patterson with a metal bucket that she’s carrying. While this is going on Obata is laughably whipping Green with a towel. Before returning to her corner the second hits Green with the bucket but is pretty fucking careless, hitting her hard with the edge of the base of it and splitting Green’s head open. I thought at times this match was being played for laughs, especially by the Japanese girls, not any more. Green can barely stand and is rolled into the ring by Patterson. The pin quickly follows after an Obata giant swing as Green’s blonde hair turns red a la a Steve Corino blade job, there’s even a puddle of it on the mat. She has to be helped to the back although does get some applause from the audience. The blood totally caught me off guard and made me sit up and take notice as I was not expecting that at all.

There’s a determined look on Eddy’s face as he looks to try and regain the Intercontinental title that he lost last week. He doesn’t give the champion chance to settle, jumping him the moment he enters the ring. Eddy runs into an elbow and ‘the One’ fires back at him, even getting in the face of Earl Hebner when he tries to get between the two. Running clothesline in the corner, however Guerrero grabs Gunn by the trunks and pulls him into the turnbuckles. Eddy’s almost maniacal in the way that he’s choking him here. Belly to back suplex for a two count. Some ‘Ground & Pound’ out of Eddy before he just sticks a thumb in Gunn’s eye, this mean streak he’s displaying not lost on ‘the King’. Gunn reverses an Irish whip and catches Eddy with a scoop powerslam. A great little superplex and now both men are down. Tilt-a-whirl suplex, Gunn hooks the leg but Eddy kicks out. Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko run down to the ring to try and help their fellow Radical, although their interference ends up backfiring as Gunn hot shots Eddy into Malenko who was up on the apron and then uses the ‘Love Gunn’ to retain the title, the same move that he won it with. Chris Benoit jumps Gunn post-match and does a number on him and you can’t help but think that maybe they should’ve sent him out first rather than Saturn and Malenko! Saturn keeps Hebner at bay as Benoit hits a diving headbutt to the helpless Gunn, Eddy then grabs the I-C belt and dumps it on his prone body, letting him have a few choice words too as the Radicalz survey the damage.

Reno is the current Hardcore champion, something that has completely passed me by. Crowbar is still dressed like a pimp and sprints down the aisle eager to make the most of this title opportunity. Perhaps he should’ve taken things slower as he’s met by a Kendo stick swinging Reno, a shot to the chest sending him backwards over the top rope and to the floor. Crowbar blocks having his head rammed into the ring post and slams Reno’s into a trash can that is hanging from the corner. He collects a ladder from under the ring and lays it on top of his opponent. Slingshot splash onto the ladder that Crowbar follows with a Lionsault, again to the ladder as Reno is sandwiched underneath. Northern Lights suplex for a two. Reno reverses the whip to the corner and launches Crowbar with an overhead belly to belly; Crowbar catching his ankle on a ladder that had been previously propped up there. As he looks for the ‘Roll the Dice’, Crowbar grabs hold of an aluminium tray bashing it over Reno’s head before digging his finger’s into his eyes and getting a unique pinfall attempt out of the situation. After dumping him chest first across the top rope Crowbar launches a trash can at Reno and he falls to the floor. He sits him in a chair at ringside, applies a sleeper and then comes off the apron with a lariat, clotheslining him out of the chair. Reno makes his way towards the back to try and buy himself some time, but Crowbar is in pursuit and the two start fighting it out at the back of the arena in front of the Thundervision. Big Vito shows up and a Mafia kick knocks Reno off the stage. Crowbar with a splash and he gets a three to become the new Hardcore champion. A big deal is made of the win as Gene Okerlund interviews him backstage while he celebrates with the likes of Mike Awesome and the M.I.A. He says that all the big bumps, all the high risk manoeuvres, all the blood, the sweat and the tears, this makes it worth while. The standards have now changed forever and he plans to take the Hardcore division to a new level. Crowbar certainly brings something fresh to the Hardcore division, someone who’s prepared to innovate, push the bar as opposed to those who just hit each other with weapons. Very surprised to see the big deal made about his win, I wonder if that’s a sign of possible added focus for the division now that he’s the champion?

Billy Reil is out and due to an injury announces that he’s vacating the JAPW Light Heavyweight title. He doesn’t think it would be right to continue to hold the belt when he can’t wrestle, especially as here are three guys in the back who have busted their asses on the Independents for the last five years and more than deserve to be champion. Nick Berk has got himself some generic female called Poison, I’m guessing to counteract Shorty. This maybe a ladder match but I’ve a hunch it’s going to be TLC as Berk carries a chair out with him, Blade and Shorty a table and Trent a monster ladder. It’s not a traditional three-way though, Berk returning to the locker room and leaving the other two to it after winning a game of ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’. No surprise how they start off, a highly choreographed mirroring sequence until a double clothesline takes down both. After blocking the others attempted hip toss, Blade takes Trent over the top rope to the outside with a huracanrana. Berk is already back (it was hardly worth him leaving) and launches himself off a chair with a flip dive out onto both. He concentrates his attack on Trent, forgetting about Blade who hits a twisting quebrada. A Berk clothesline cuts off the Blade double springboard but he then wipes himself out something rotten on the Lionsault. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt in that those ropes do look a bit loose, but that was a horrible botch. Trent doesn’t give the crowd too long to chant “you fucked up!” at him, hitting a lovely missile dropkick. A high plancha to the floor out onto Blade. The two end up at the rear of the building, presumably so someone can dive from the Crow’s Nest. Yup, Trent moonsaulting off it although he kicks Blade in the head in the process. They’re not done yet, Berk giving Blade a bonkers ‘Berk Driver’ from the Crow’s Nest and then throwing a chair on top of him which he then leaps down onto. Acid and Berk make their way back towards the ring, Trent reversing an Irish whip and sending Berk crashing into the ring post. ‘Blue Thunder Driver’ followed by a middle rope moonsault. Blade returns and Trent levels him with a clothesline, Blade doing a 180 and landing on Berk (like a standing moonsault). With both men down Trent collects that almighty ladder, although I’m not sure why he didn’t go for a pin considering he went for one not too long ago. He bridges it between two chairs and then gives Blade a painful looking ‘Acid Bomb’ into it, Ric landing chin first on the metal. Berk comically breaks up the cover, clearly waiting for the ref’s hand to come down for a second time and then exaggerating the dive over the ladder to stop the count. Now its Trent’s turn to take a nasty bump onto the ladder, Berk suplexing him into it after it had been rested upright against the top rope. He lays him across it and bravely goes for a second Lionsault. Admittedly this one went better than his previous effort but it was still bad as he overshot and pretty much headbutts Trent in the groin. Blade with the four storey moonsault, Acid making the save and breaking up the pin. Trent tosses him out to the concrete, lays a couple of chairs across Berk’s face and hits the tumbleweed legdrop. He collects the table and it appears, for a moment at least, that he and Blade are going to work together to put Berk through it. They climb opposite turnbuckles but Christ knows what happens next, I rewound the tape a couple of time and am still not exactly sure. It looks like they were supposed to dive off at the same time only not only does Blade jump first, the table is also too far away for his Swanton, so he doesn’t reach and his legs hit Berk in the face. Trent jumps a split second later, by which time the table is already down and there is no-one there for his switch position splash. Not surprisingly that gets the second “you fucked up!” of the match. Blade and Acid break up the others’ pin before they start fighting amongst themselves. They head off towards the back of the arena again and I’m calling it now, Blade is going to do a nutty dive from somewhere. Trent sets up some chairs but Blade boots him in the gut and powerbombs him onto them. He grabs himself a table, places it in front of the entrance way and lays Acid across. ‘Swanton bomb’ from above the entrance, and while I always worry when Blade goes for that, he hits this one perfectly and it looked great. Berk puts Trent over his shoulder and carries him back to the ring, fully aware that he can’t win the title on the floor. Blade tries to surprise them but gets caught and a ‘Berk Driver’ onto some chairs sees us crown a new Light Heavyweight champion. Billy Reil returns to present the title to the new champion as Blade, Acid and Berk do ‘The Shield’ fist bump. Who would’ve thought these guys would be the inspiration for that eh? Reil says that they’re coming back here in January and he expects Berk to give him the same opportunity that he gave him, “you bet your fucking life brother”. Well it didn’t steal the show, at least not in my eyes. The expected highly choreographed stunt show spot fest that goes straight from one spot to the next and with things like them going to the back of the arena serving no logical purpose and only so that they can jump/dive from high spaces. You know what you’re going to get from these guys, especially with the added ladder stipulation, but not the best example of this kind of match, one which was flat out bad in a couple of places.

Backstage a ditzy Dawn Marie is concerned that there is a Gangsta back there. Corino informs her that he is here to watch his back, New Jack adding that while he has history with Jack Victory “money talks”. This is real intense, threatening stuff from Jack, saying how ‘old school’ to Corino is a side headlock, but ‘old school’ to him is taking a screwdriver, sticking it in your forehead and screwing your brains out! He warns Francine that if she gets in the way and “plays a man’s part” she’ll be treated like a man and he’ll beat her like a man. After New Jack leaves Corino tells Dawn to stay in the dressing room for this one. There’s growing tension brewing between Francine and Justin Credible, the former in no hurry to accompany him and has to be dragged through the curtain. Corino sprints to the ring, not bothering to wait for his partner. This early in the match he’s got no chance of overturning the two on one odds, getting beaten down until New Jack’s arrival. Jack arrives with a trash can full of weapons and tosses Rhino to the outside as they pair off. A blatant blade job from Credible who you clearly see retrieving a blade from his wrist tape and then cutting his forehead after Jack digs a sickle into him. With Corino and Rhino now fighting in the crowd the camera is flitting back and forth between the two pairs. As well as his careless blading there is also some comical overselling from Credible. New Jack and he end up in the crowd going at it as Corino and Rhino return to the ring. Rhino no sells a bionic elbow, boots Corino in the mid-section and as I think is going to kill him with a chair shot, mercifully cracks him across the shoulder instead. New Jack bites Corino in the crotch, leading to Styles quipping that was more action than Francine has given him recently. Talk of the devil, she accidentally canes Credible and Corino schoolboys him for a near fall. Superkick to Rhino, New Jack with a chair dive off the top and they both make the cover together as this one is over. Post-match Credible wears his Singapore cane out on both before Rhino gores Jack through a table as they regain their heat. Sandman makes the save with help of his Singapore cane, however after clearing the ring Corino refuses his offer of a beer, slapping the can out of his hand.

Brandon Baxter is out at the top of the show and he’s the last person that Dave Brown wants to see as he holds him ultimately responsible for everything that’s been happening between MCW and MPPW. Baxter thinks it’s unfair that he’s getting the blame, are they forgetting about Jerry Lawler or do they let it slide because he’s their almighty King? He says how after MCW invaded them that they would regroup and turn up at their event later that night to show them how an invasion is done. The tape then airs (a different angle to the one shown on MCW TV) of the Power Pro wrestlers arriving through the back door and ambushing K-Krush, Jerry Lawler and Tracey Smothers during the three way main event of the Shelby County show on 10/14. Baxter compares himself to Norman Schwarzkopf, (just like Schwarzkopf put together a bunch of different countries and formed ‘the Allied Powers’ he put a coalition together), and says they might as well call him ‘Stormin’ Brandon Baxter because he put the crew together, all the personalities that don’t get along, they believed every word he said and they got the job done! Spellbinder and Brickhouse Brown walk out to join them and as Baxter looks for a Hi Five, Binder leaves him hanging. He explains that what he did that night was for Power Pro Wrestling, was for the people in this studio and was because he is Power Pro champion. It was not for Brandon Baxter; he’s not his friend now and never will be. Brickhouse thinks similarly, saying that he’s a “Power Pro player”, had the chance to bust some heads and any time he gets that opportunity he’s going to take it. After telling Baxter that his involvement had nothing to do with him, the two of them leave. Dave thinks that the coalition is looking weak but ‘Stormin’ Brandon is adamant that they’ll come around. Baxter has one final thing to talk about, and that’s Jerry Lawler. He goes on to say how Jerry Lawler likes to come out here and play Mr Big Shot, talk about being a WWF superstar and all his WWF buddies, but there are just as many guys, if not more, in the WWF who hate his guts and he’s got someone who’ll be in the studio shortly that hates Jerry Lawler just as much as he does, Tazz. Although Tazz will be in Jonesboro this evening for the ‘Final Battle’, doubting Dave thinks it highly unlikely Tazz has got the time to be here but they’ll find out later. A quick interview from the two six-man teams either side of the advertisements, Bill Dundee promising to blind Slash in his other eye. Spellbinder, ‘the Superstar’ and Brickhouse don’t bother to wait for the bell and quickly empty the ring of their opponents. Slash rushes Brick when he turns his back on him, however it is a Harlem sledge from behind that sees the match swing in their direction. Dave says how Rob Harlem is “huuuuuuge” and that’s no understatement. Wow, spinning heel kick out of him. The heels go to work on Brickhouse who, on more than one occasion, needs the help of his partners to save him and break up a pinfall attempt. Corey Maclin mentions how they’ve just received a video from WWF champion Kurt Angle who’s got a message for Randy Hales and they’ll be playing that later. Laird telegraphs a backdrop but rather than make the tag Brickhouse opts to drop an elbow which Laird rolls out the way of. After Dundee saves Brickhouse following an ‘Alleycopter’ Slash has had enough of his interfering and clubs ‘the Superstar’. Brick is whipped into the ropes by Harlem, but comes back with a running crossbody at him That disorientates Harlem and he ends up in the wrong corner as Brickhouse finally makes the tag. The match quickly breaks down with everyone going at it and the official having lost all control. Harlem accidentally clotheslines Laird and Binder with a somersault senton that sees the face trio pick up the win. Before we’re done Dave once again reminds everyone not to go away as Brandon Baxter has promised that Tazz will be here shortly.

It is. That's the cover of a music album, not a magazine https://www.amazon.com/Card-Subject-Carnage-Eat-Turnbuckle/dp/B00VX2292Q

Returning from the commercial break, Corino (still in the ring) says that the rules are different now he’s the ECW World Heavyweight champion. It means that he doesn’t fear anyone (even namedropping the WWF and WCW) and if there is anyone who wants to accept an open challenge he’ll slap them like he slapped the beer out of the Sandman’s hand. Ooh, I wonder who might be answering this. The challenge is answered by, shock, horror, the Sandman who proceeds to make his customary lengthy entrance. Corino immediately starts backpedalling, claiming he never meant he’d take anyone on tonight. He then starts talking about how he would love to wrestle the Sandman but he’s injured his appendix…again. This is really weird characterisation of a supposed face, almost as if he’s reverting to the chicken shit manager that he used to be. The Sandman has heard enough and spits beer in Corino’s face which snaps the champion out of this odd retro stance he’s taken. One cane shot to the head and we take our second commercial break of the segment. We return to see Sandman carrying a guard rail from the back to the ring. He actually throws some good looking punches, something that I wouldn’t normally associate with him. As well as the railing the Sandman also collects himself a ladder; suplexing, whipping and bulldogging Corino onto and into both. He buries him beneath the ladder and lands a slingshot senton, crushing him under it. Everything he throws at the champion isn’t enough to put him away though. Three cane shots to the head drop him, he calls for the White Russian Legsweep (I do like that name) but Corino counters into the ‘Old School Expulsion’, Sandman landing on the steel, for the win.

The champion and the challenger are nose to nose in the middle of the ring when Dawn Marie walks out to ringside. We’re reminded how she turned on Corino at November to Remember; in that case why is she even allowed to be out there. Oh, turns out she’s not, she’s just circling the ring before making her way back up the aisle to the dressing room. Her distraction allows Lynn to take advantage and he starts whipping Corino with the leather World title belt. Jerry throws him to the outside as Joey Styles wonders whether Lynn asked Dawn to come out and provide that distraction for him. He picks Corino up, runs his lower back into the ring post and then slams him on the concrete. There’s a definite new found aggressiveness from Lynn, almost as if he’s incensed at having lost the World title so soon after winning it. Cyrus is seen at ringside, Styles talking about how he has said he wants to get Lynn’s career back on track. Even though he hasn’t accepted his offer yet this sounds very much like a rehash of the stuff with the Network from several months ago and the storyline as to whether Lynn was in cahoots with them. A lovely powerslam by Corino gets him a two, and he picks up another following a Fisherman’s suplex. The two trade punches and as H.C. Loc tries to separate them Corino elbows him in the chops. That looked deliberate although I suppose it was meant to have been ‘accidental’. Marvellous, here comes Danny Daniels, I thought we had seen the last of him. He’s still got a score to settle with Lynn, but Jerry avoids his chair shot and Corino superkicks it into his own face. Lynn DDT’s Corino onto the chair however he kicks out of the cover, Jim Molineux appearing out of nowhere to replace Loc. Jeez, now he gets bumped, accidentally, courtesy of a superkick. Justin Credible is out and he blitzes the two wrestlers with Singapore cane shots. Lynn is backed up in the corner, bleeding from the eye, the talk being that the cane caught him there. We go to a commercial break and on return see Corino all alone in the ring, the match having been stopped and Lynn in the back receiving medical treatment.

A miffed Simon Diamond interrupts the show introduction, annoyed that Joey Styles isn’t talking about him or putting him over on commentary. He says that Styles hasn’t talked about Johnny Swinger’s broke orbital bone, hasn’t mentioned that he put Tommy Dreamer out of commission and wonders what he has to do to get his attention. That eventually results in him slugging Joel Gertner with Styles getting on Simon’s back trying to help out. In turn we get run outs from Swinger, Tommy Dreamer, C.W. Anderson and finally Christian York and Joey Matthews leading to an ‘impromptu’ tag match. Come the end of the year I think I’ll tally up the number of these ‘impromptu’ matches we’ve had in ECW. ‘Future Shock’ on Swinger. C.W. is still at ringside and he gets nailed with a double baseball slide. Stereo suicide dives to the floor. After a double Russian legsweep the official tries to get York out of the ring, while he is doing so though Swinger knees Matthews in the back from the apron and then clotheslines him across the top rope. Just as I realise there hasn’t been any commentary (Styles and Gertner selling what happened at the opening) Cyrus pops up, flying solo. Simon runs into a big boot and although he blocks the Matthews tornado DDT Joey just kicks him low. Springboard back elbow by York. Referee John Finnegan follows Swinger and Matthews as they take it to the outside, looking to try and restore a bit of order. C.W. slides a chair into the ring and with Finnegan dealing with Matthews, Simon & Swinger hit a combination side slam/reverse DDT onto the chair. Matthews is back to help his partner and the two throw Swinger into Simon before tossing him to the floor. York & Matthews go for their finisher however some appalling camera work means we miss seeing what happens, York ending up being crotched on the top rope after the Matthews rana. Clearly someone (Swinger or C.W.) gave him a shove but it’s criminal that we never saw it. As Swinger distracts Finnegan, C.W. with a spinebuster to Matthews. ‘Problem Solver’ on York and this one is done. The three of them continue to attack their defeated opponents after the match until ‘Bawitdaba’ kicks in, Kid Kash running out to make the save. A throwaway match for a bunch of guys who don’t have a storyline at the moment. It was supposed to be your ‘hot’ opener to get the crowd into the PPV but there’s something missing with York & Matthews.

Here you go, and in pretty decent quality compared to some of the TWA stuff that is out there.

This looks very much just like the two disc 'ECW Best of 1992' set that's been in circulation for years. https://ohmygodwrestlingreview.wordpress.com/2016/01/15/1992-ecw-pilot-1/

Joey Styles runs down the rules for this unique ‘Double Jeopardy’ match. There will be two matches taking place in the same ring at the same time, Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible and Steve Corino vs The Sandman. All four men can interact with each other, however only Corino can eliminate the Sandman, only Lynn can eliminate Credible and vice versa, Lynn, for example, can’t eliminate either Corino or the Sandman. When the two winners emerge they will then go at it and the match will be decided by pinfall or submission. Jeez, I think I’ve got all that. Huh, where’s the Sandman? Credible, Lynn and Corino each make their entrances and we’re now getting the ring introductions without him. Maybe he’s been drinking all PPV and has passed out in the back somewhere. Forget ‘Double Jeopardy’ this is more like ‘double huh’ as it’s starting without him. Despite the wrestlers being allowed to interact with each other, Corino is happy to sit on the top turnbuckle and leave Credible and Lynn to it. FFS, when he does decide to involve himself it’s to break up a fucking pinfall! The crowd, who were chanting for the Sandman, are now chanting for Rob Van Dam, presumably expecting a replacement. Rather than choose to help either Lynn or Credible, Corino alternates between attacking the two. Eventually the Sandman’s (dubbed) music starts and I wonder if he’ll take another five minutes on his entrance or show a bit of urgency. Like I needed to ask, he’s not even facing the ring as he sinks beers in amongst the fans. Lynn has been busted open, we missed seeing how as Sandman’s entrance was deemed more important. In a way I suppose this could be considered smart by the Sandman, letting everyone else slug it out while he gets progressively more pissed. Finally he decides to involve himself, caning Lynn from the floor and when he gets into the ring, caning Credible too. He opens a can of beer but Corino swipes it out of his hands, he’s next to be caned followed by Jack Victory. Lynn and Credible attack the Sandman although neither can eliminate him. This is confusing as fuck. Sandman finds himself a ladder, returns to the ring and whips everyone into it in turn. He suplexes Corino into the upright ladder before burying him underneath it and hitting a slingshot somersault senton. The four switch up who they’re working with, Sandman bulldogging Credible onto the ladder. I just don’t get the thinking behind why he would do this. Cyrus can’t either it seems, just referring to Sandman as a “belligerent drunk” who doesn’t know what he’s doing. All four are now bleeding by the way. Lynn with a tombstone piledriver on Credible, however Francine is in there and jumping on top of John Finnegan to stop the count. That brings in Dawn Marie but amazingly we don’t get the cat fight spot, Corino getting between the two and ordering Dawn out of there. Considering they do the cat fight every match, from the way the fans boo Corino you would think they’ve never seen Francine and Dawn go at it before! Great double superkick on Lynn by Corino and Credible. Corino counters the Sandman’s Russian legsweep into the ‘Old School Expulsion’ at the same time as Credible hits his finisher and we have ourselves a double elimination. Christ, that’s too cute. The crowd are chanting “bullshit” at that, although I can’t tell if it’s because Lynn or Sandman were eliminated or because the eliminations conveniently happened at exactly the same time. The two remain at ringside and both involve themselves some more in the match. After Corino suplexes Credible through a table that he’d earlier bought into the ring, Francine wanders in to help her man to his feet. Walking right in front of the officials who just let this pass. Credible pulls her in the way of a Corino superkick to save himself and then gets a shoulder up after an ‘Old School Expulsion’. A second ‘OSE’, but before Corino can make the cover Dawn Marie turns on him, low blowing him, not happy with how he has been treating her. A trio of cane shots from Credible, Corino doesn’t go down though and replies with a superkick. That floors Justin, almost anti-climactically, and we have ourselves a new ECW World champion. Jerry Lynn hands over the title belt while also having a few words, presumably wanting the first crack at him. I imagine the ‘Double Jeopardy’ idea looked good on paper, it just didn’t work in practice and there is good reason why it has never been tried since.