GSR

Murdoch finished up in February so was gone by Mania time. Yeah, Mulligan was done at the start of that month too bar one random appearance in September and then returning late '86 for his final run.

I presume you listened to the Warner media interview a day or so after? In my eyes, what he didn't say, confirmed what most think about the situation and the three of them were the fall guys for everyone else involved. Lehmann absolutely knew what was going on, not to mention Smith's talk of a 'leadership group' that came up with the plan. Surely a 'leadership group' would include one of their senior bowlers (Starc, Lyon) and when has two people ever been considered a 'group'? I doubt we'll ever find out know, or at least not until one of them writes a book many years down the line.

A Georgia Street fight for the NWA World tag team titles. Riddle is the spit of ‘Bulldozer’ era Brian Lee, while this is the same Sean Royal of New Breed fame, looking completely unrecognisable I may add. Fuck, Royal is goose stepping up and down the apron! After a bit of stalling and Michaels informing these “Georgia crackers” to shut the hell up and quit psyching that drunk up, this one finally gets going. Michaels with a leap frog, but Riddle catches him mid-are and powerslams him to the mat. He’s had enough already and tags in his partner. Young wants Royal, who the commentators describe as a man with a chip on his shoulder, and the two start trading blows holding nothing back. Royal blocks the hip toss, countering with one of his own and lands a dropkick, although this isn’t 1987 ‘New Breed’ Sean Royal throwing a dropkick! Release overhead belly to belly and Young takes to the floor. Nice Fujiwara arm bar takedown after ducking a swinging Michaels right hand and Young is in for the save breaking it up. That brings in Riddle as the bout descends into the brawl that you were kind of expecting. Riddle with a couple of chair shots on the floor to the back of Michaels, but after wedging a chair between the bottom two turnbuckles, Michaels reverses the whip and he crashes into it himself. Royal and Young join their partners on the outside as it looks like all hell is about to break out! Michaels is launched into the security rail, Royal cracks a chair over the head of Young busting him open and finally Michaels wipes out a row of seats after being hip tossed into them. He and Riddle fight their way into the urinals before returning to the ring. Riddle sets up a chair in the middle, however Michaels reverses the Irish whip, drop toe hold and he goes face first into it himself. Royal is choking Young over the barricade and a clubbing blow to the back from Michaels helps his partner out. A stiff chair shot to the head of Royal and then they’re back doing their best to cause as much damage to those barricades as possible. Royal slams Young on the hard wooded floor, while Michaels has removed his boot and is now using that as a weapon. Young lays Royal on a mini-table at ringside and then puts it through him with a frog splash from the apron. Riddle misses a leg drop off the top, but as Michaels goes for a top rope move of his own, he flies into a Riddle raised boot. Royal picks up what’s left of that mini table and slams it into the head of Young. The action spills out of the arena and into the adjacent car park where, at the earliest opportune time, Michaels and Young hop into a pick up and high tail it out of there wanting nothing more to do with ‘Total Destruction’. This was a throw back to your Street fights of old, none of your conveniently placed ladders, trash cans and fire extinguishers to use as weapons like in the majority of ‘hardcore’ matches that are going on at the moment, just chairs, whatever’s at ringside and whatever you’re wearing. I was stoked to see Michaels pull off his boot and start swinging that, something I hadn’t seen for a long time. I liked the escalation of this too as, despite the Street fight rules, it started off as a traditional tag team match and you forget that it’s anything goes, until all hell does literally break out. Not the kind of finish that can be done regularly, but as a one off within his setting, I thought it was a smart and worked.

Scoot tries to shoot Essa off to break the side headlock but he’s got that cinched in tight. Back suplex attempt instead and Rios flips over landing on his feet. Some sort of modified Thesz press (which is exactly how Kevin Kelly described it). Scoot sidesteps a flying Essa who ends up going ass over tit into the turnbuckles. A lovely dropkick by Andrews. Essa reverses the whip to the corner but Scoot vaults over the top rope and onto the apron. He turns to the crowd, pointing at his head thinking he’s outsmarted his opponent when Essa dropkicks him in the back and he goes flying into the ringside barricade. Awesome running flip dive over the ring post to the floor. Scoot counters the headscissors, dumping Rios face first to the mat for a two. Backdrop and Essa only just tucks his head at the last moment to avoid landing flat bang on it. Fallaway slam by Scoot. Irish whip, Essa with a handspring into the ropes and a backflip over Andrews. Spinning heel kick followed by a powerslam. He heads upstairs and hits a gorgeous moonsault for the win. Rios is such a graceful flyer, but that’s pretty much all he’s still got going for him (and that he’s a good looking chap with nice hair). Another situation similar to the Kwik/Morgan match, where the non-contracted guy is better than the contracted one, only they just don’t have all the flash.

Red grabs the single leg, Divine spins him out but Red with a cartwheel and he lands on his feet. Clubbing right followed by a dropkick. Red blocks the hip toss, monkey flip and this time its Divine landing on his feet. Huracanrana and Divine rolls to the outside. One crazy flip five from the top turnbuckle to the floor by Red and the Elk’s Lodge becomes unglued. He chases Divine around ringside and back into the ring but, as he slides in after him, Kara Slice (Divine’s valet) with some interference turning the tide in her man’s favour. Backbreaker for a two count. Single leg dropkick by Red but that fails to take his opponent of his feet. Divine counters the neckbreaker with a lovely high bridged Northern Lights suplex. Full nelson into a jumping DDT. He sits Red on the top turnbuckle, only to get crotched up there when he takes too long in setting up the superbomb. Top rope frankensteiner by Red followed by a diving headbutt with some serious elevation. Kara breaks up the count at two though pulling Red off Divine, before entering the ring to check on her man. Red snatches hold of her but is nailed from behind by Divine. A pair of miscommunications sees Kara first kick Divine between the legs and then Divine superkick her (both shots were meant for Red but he managed to outsmart them and avoid both). Enziguiri, ‘Phoenix splash’ and Red advances to the next round of the tournament. I watched the Red/Maximo match first and then later found this one from the same show. This is the opening bout in the North Eastern title tournament, and is a much more grounded affair. Red’s high spots are still insane (the flip dive from the top turnbuckle to the floor, the Phoenix splash) but in hindsight it’s clear he was keeping some stuff back for the next round. If anyone is interested, Kara Slice is the future ‘Cherry’ from Deuce & Domino WWF fame.

At the moment, probably around 5 or 6 hours a week, all old stuff though. I made a commitment to PWO2K, and while I jump around an awful lot in my viewing, I try to watch at least one match a day. If it weren't for that, I would be at next to nothing. I barely listen to any wrestling podcasts now either; I'll check out Austin, Jericho or Cornette's (although I find 'The Great' Brian Last pretty much unbearable these days) if the guest interests me, ditto depending on what Kris and Bix are talking about on that weeks 'BTS'. I really enjoyed Dylan's snap shots that he did for all the shows over Wrestlemania weekend though. I still enjoy reading about wrestling, more about the historical side of things mind as 'scoopz', or some goon posting Raw spoilers on Twitter because they've got the run down sheet holds zero appeal to me.

A six-man tag team match pitting the ‘Suicide Blondes’ against Chris Michaels, Sean Casey & Phil Fair, with the added stipulations that should the Blondes win then Fair has to kiss each one of them on the backside, however should they lose, they will have to shave their heads in the middle of the ring. As Fair makes his way down the aisle he’s got his arm in a sling and is wearing a neck brace, as a suspicious Cornette says how he saw him only 45 minutes ago and he looked fine then. Fair informs everyone that he slipped on some spilt gravy in Kenny Bolin’s locker room and has a broken arm and fractured neck. He has found a suitable replacement though, one of the greatest wrestlers ever and the only true blonde in professional wrestling other than himself... It’s Buddy Landell wearing a hideous orange tracksuit and looking like a giant pumpkin! Lee clips the knee out from under Casey and gives him a basement dropkick to the back of the head. Fast paced action between Michaels and King but as Michaels heads upstairs he’s not quick enough and DK crotches him on the top turnbuckle. Top rope frankensteiner for a two. King with a tip up over a charging Michaels, however when he tries it a second time Michaels snatches and then ‘Alabama slams’ him to the mat. To quote Corny “he tags the pumpkin, I mean the ‘Nature Boy’”. Budro still throws a mean looking right hand. Reverse crossbody by DK, but Landell catches him and drops him across his knee with a backbreaker. Casey and Michaels work the double team, although neither the combination dropkick/spinebuster nor the double clothesline are enough to put King away. Michaels telegraphs the backdrop and DK plants him with a facebuster. Tag to Lee whom takes it to everyone, including clocking Landell who’s on the apron not paying attention. ‘Lee-sault’ (I can’t believe Cornette is still calling it that) on Michaels and Budro is in to break up the cover. Fair tries to interfere when he’s grabbed by Lee and flipped into the ring. “The dreaded Noogie punch” by Rogers, the Blondes pile on Fair, and with Casey et al dealt with, there’s no-one to make the save and he’s got some backsides to kiss. It doesn’t look like Landell was the wisest investment, as he’s got his cheque and isn’t hanging around to help Fair now. One by one Fair is forced to kiss those asses, with Corny having a particularly disgusting way of describing Rip’s. We cut to Michaels and Casey in the bathroom waiting for Fair who is being sick in one of the cubicles. Apparently he’s been in there over an hour already, but vows revenge on the Blondes and promising to shave their heads no matter what. I wonder how many times Cornette’s pulled that swerve like he did with Fair here over the years? I’m sure I remember seeing it plenty of times in Smoky Mountain for starters. Not sure what the whole point of Landell was here? He wasn’t dressed for wrestling and bar one cameo that was pretty much the extent of his involvement in this. Did Cornette not realise what shape he was in until he showed up on the night and then told him to keep covered up? A perfectly fine five minute match with the stronger workers carrying the load.

Sly Scraper is the former ‘Collector’ for Bolin Services, Sylvester Terkay, while according to Jim Cornette Spade is doing a gimmick where he thinks he’s a future WWF champion. Wristlock by Scraper and in one motion Shelton leaps to the top rope, bounces off it flipping backwards and reverses the hold. Spinning headscissors. He scrappily ends up on Scraper’s shoulders, and then botches the huracanrana. Tag to Brock who drops an elbow and Spade is in to break up the pin. Spade is at it again, kneeing Brock in the back as he hits the ropes which allows Sly to catch him with a spinning heel kick. Tag to ‘Smooth Johnny’ and Lesnar kicks out of his cover, pressing Spade higher than the top rope in doing so. Nip up followed by a huge press slam. Release overhead belly to belly. Scraper is in there to try and help out, but he and Brock end up going at it on the outside. As the ref tries to regain some order and get Lesnar back to his own corner, Sly pulls down the top rope as Shelton is whipped into them and he goes sailing out over to the floor. Another team stealing the ‘wassup’ spot with Sly being the one to deliver the headbutt. Pump handle suplex by Scraper before wheelbarrow slamming his own partner onto Shelton. Double crossbody attempt and both men go down. Hot tag to Brock. Holy shit, a tilt-a-whirl slam on Scraper with Lesnar making it look like he only weighs about 150lbs it was that easy for him. Double ‘Rock bottom’, lateral press by Brock but Spade with a leg drop off the top to the back of his head. Shelton drops Sly with a superkick and, after landing on his feet from a monkey flip, does the same to Spade. Knee to the face of Scraper and Brock is stood on the top turnbuckle. SHOOTING STAR PRESS THAT LOOKED FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!! Listen to the fan’s reaction to that. Spade is back to his feet to make the save though. Jeez! Backbreaker on ‘Smooth Johnny’, 450 splash by Shelton and this one is over. The night the WWF thought that maybe all that money they paid out on that developmental deal for Lesnar was money well spent after all. It was your formulaic ‘Stretching Crew’ tag with Shelton getting the heat and Lesnar as the hot tag. While Benjamin fudged on a few things, Brock looked so good and is picking this wrestling lark up in quick time. The way he manhandled Scraper and threw him around; he’s got presence, agility and that ‘Shooting Star’! If you’re going to watch one thing from this match watch that, the elevation, everything about it was perfect and a country mile from the Wrestlemania attempt against Kurt. I can’t believe that wasn’t the finish though and they had Spade break up the cover? Unbelievable! If they wanted to showcase Shelton’s 450, let that me the move that gets broken up. Hopefully they learn from the fan’s reaction to the move. A note for Jim Cornette who was much more palatable here than at any point last year too, maybe someone had advised him to tone it down a notch!

Da Baldies (Angel & DeVito) vs Balls Mahoney & Chris Candido Candido is introduced by Balls as his mystery partner. Tammy Sytch is also there, dancing in the audience at first before coming down to ringside; she’s covered up way more than you would expect for her in 2001, like she’s going to spend the day at home lounging in front of the TV. Balls catches DeVito with a lovely arm drag and then we get some crowd participation as they chant “Balls” while he jabs away at ‘Da Baldies’. DeVito nails him from behind before he can make the tag and a combination kick to the mid-section/kick to the head. Candido looks pretty disinterested on the outside, paying more attention to Tammy than the match. Even though she didn’t, the commentator mentions how Tammy tried to grab Balls’ ankle as he hit the ropes. Hmmm, I smell a rat… Accidental clash of heads and both men go down. Balls ducks the double clothesline and takes down ‘Da Baldies’ with one of his own. He goes over to his corner but Candido’s not interested at all, gesturing at Balls to carry on with what he’s doing. Balls persuades him in the end, the pair of them both pick up a steel chair but Candido turns on his partner, cracking him over the head with that chair. ‘Da Baldies’ make the cover together, and two and a half minutes after it started, it’s over. The three of them triple team Balls after the match (complete with some terribly pulled Candido punches), until Kid Kash runs out for the save. He clears the ring of ‘Da Baldies’ and, as he and Candido trade punches, the ref signals for the bell to signify the start of this impromptu match. Chris Candido vs Kid Kash ‘Bawitdaba’ is playing and not stopping despite the match being in progress. Candido rolls to the outside after a dropkick and Kash nails him with a pescado. He’s able to reverse the whip on the floor though and Kash goes crashing into the guard rail. Not satisfied by giving away the turn in the previous match, as Candido climbs the turnbuckles the commentator says how he hasn’t seen him do a top rope move (to the floor) in five years. Naturally then he doesn’t here either, as Kash is back to his feet before Candido has the chance to fly and crotches him on the top turnbuckle. Kash slips off the ropes when attempting the top rope frankensteiner, but ‘Bawitdaba’ is still playing so any chants of “You f*cked up!” are drowned out. He hits it the second time of trying. Kash runs into a big boot before being dropped with a lariat right at the time ‘Bawitdaba’ finally stops. Good job as this was starting to resemble a New Jack match, minus all the weapons and garbage! The Equalizer (not Dave Sullivan), having arrived from God knows where, attacks the referee, stripping him of his shirt and putting it on himself. Great, we have a self-appointed heel ref now! An impressive one armed delayed vertical suplex by Candido which has been the highlight of all this so far. Lateral press but the Equalizer screws up the fast count, counting three even though this wasn’t the finish and Kash kicked out at two! The match continues and Candido and the Equalizer are now working together. Double boot to the gut, double suplex, but again Kash kicks out of the fast count. ‘Suicideplex’ followed by a diving headbutt. Instead of going for the cover he heads back upstairs for another diving headbutt, only for Kash to this time move out the way. With Kash looking like he’s gained the upper hand, he’s jumped by the returning ‘Baldies’ as the commentator says “this is ridiculous!” Never has a truer word been spoken. Balls repays the favour from earlier, cleaning house including a superkick to DeVito that is about a foot short from connecting but is sold anyway. ‘Nutcracker Suite’ on Candido. Kash then twice screws up the tornado DDT, getting the “You f*cked up!” chants this time, before hitting a regular one. The Equalizer is still laid out so Balls grabs his hand and slaps it three times to the mat to count the fall. ‘Da Baldies’ take their frustrations out on security, obliterating them with chair shots, whilst Balls gets a bit of revenge on Candido. Tammy slaps the Equalizer a couple of times, blaming him for what’s just happened to Chris. He and Candido then go at it, Tammy with a low blow on the Equalizer and he’s had enough as this train wreck is finally over. One giant mess from start to finish.

It looks like Matt Striker is on security duties, shepherding Maximo as he makes his entrance. Just like Jimmy Rave on that episode of Wildside TV, Red looks so young here. Real fast opening stretch ending with a Red satellite DDT. Standing shooting star for a two and Maximo rolls to the floor to re-evaluate his game plan. Red makes out as if he’s going for an Asai moonsault, but as Maximo tries to grab him, he vaults back into the ring, sprints off the ropes and lands an almighty flip dive instead, hitting his ankles on the guard rail in the process. “Holy shit!” chant for that one. Back inside, and as Red goes for a moonsault crossbody he’s caught with a dropkick to the chest while upside down in mid-air. Maximo presses him overhead and then launches him like a projectile missile from up high to the arena floor. Splash Mountain into a ‘dominator’, but Red kicks out of the cover. A clubbing clothesline by Red takes both over the top and to the outside. Leaping huracanrana from the top turnbuckle to the arena floor! While Maximo is still trying to recover, Red nails him with a Kushi moonsault (that’s what the commentators called it, although it’s a running backflip over the top rope to the outside). An even bigger “Holy shit!” chant for that. Red sits Maximo upstairs for a top rope frankensteiner, Maximo gives him a shove but Red with a backflip and he lands on his feet. As Maximo comes off the middle he’s met by a spinning tornado kick. Picture perfect Shooting Star press. Red makes the cover but some blonde woman is up on the apron distracting the referee. While he’s otherwise engaged with her, some other chap runs out from the dressing room and levels Red with a boot to the head. ‘Maximum Overdrive’ and Maximo picks up the win. That same guy who cost Red the match gives him a post-match powerbomb, while another unknown jumps Maximo and leaves him lying with a single armed DDT. Security get the pair of them out of there and while they’re surveying the damage, one fan, right in front of the camera, yells at the blonde “show me that clit, let me lick some pussy”. Classy, real classy! Red is then carried from the ring to a standing ovation. Red before he was ‘Amazing’ and Maximo before he had a first name! A real fun high octane, innovative spotfest. Not everything they tried came off, but more did than didn’t. Even by today’s standards some of the spots looked fresh which is a testament to both, especially considering that this match is now 18 years old. I know we’ve a whole bunch more of SAT, Red stuff to watch for the remainder of 2001 and this is a cracking appetizer to whet the whistle of what’s to come.

In what is announced as Super Dragon’s return to Revolution Pro, he and Rising Son have an embrace before the actions kicks off. Cool low spinning leg sweep to take Dragon off his feet, but he counters the ‘Magistral cradle’ with a roll up. Torture rack, however Son counters that one with a crucifix as both have now tried to catch the other off guard with early pin attempts. Son flips over on the belly to belly, dropkick to the back of Dragon who collapses over the middle rope, and a ‘619’ long before it was ever called that. Dragon back drops Son over the top rope but he lands on the apron. He catches a punch then springboards back inside, taking Dragon down with a headscissors in the process that sends him all the way across the apron and to the outside. Incredible springboard huracanrana to the floor by Son which they execute perfectly. That one justifiably gets the “Holy shit!” treatment. Slingshot senton to the back and Dragon is able to drape a foot over the bottom rope for the break. Indian deathlock with Son bridging back to hook the neck, as once again Dragon is forced to go to the ropes. The Irish whip is reversed and Dragon flips over the ropes and onto the apron. When he turns back around he’s met with a dropkick and takes a mother fucking nestea plunge to the hard wooden floor. Satellite headscissors and seconds after returning to the ring Dragon is back on the outside. Son with the Tajiri handspring, but Dragon grabs his hands and pulls him to the outside with him. He locks on a rocking horse submission on the floor, swinging Son’s head into the wall while doing so. It doesn’t look like the first time Dragon has done that one as there’s a head shaped hole already in the wall from a previous match! Backs suplex for a two count. Knife edge chop followed by an open handed slap, each resounding around the building and each taking Son off his feet. Rolling kick in the corner. Son tries to fire back with a flurry of kicks, but a stiff lariat stops him in his tracks. Whip to the turnbuckle, however Son avoids the charge and Dragon goes flying between the top two ropes into the wall and crashes to the arena floor. I had to re-watch that one a second time, a spectacular bump even crazier than that nestea plunge he took earlier. As he makes it to his feet and onto the apron, Son hits a Pele kick. Cross arm bar, but Dragon is able to get to the ropes. A couple of kicks to the head and he’s back at that arm bar, although the outcome is the same as last time. Son fails to connect on the handspring elbow and as he’s collapsed in the corner, Dragon with a basement dropkick to the chops. He calls for the ‘Psycho Driver’ but Son tees off with some elbows to the side of the head to free himself from his grasp. Reverse huracanrana contorting and spiking Dragon. There’s no chance of a breather on the floor as Son nails him with an Asai moonsault. Dragon blocks the top rope frankensteiner, it looks like he’s setting for a superbomb but Son then counters that with a belly to belly superplex. That takes it out of both men. Son lands the frankensteiner at the second attempt, although this time Dragon holds on and rolls through for the sunset flip. Dragon suplex with Son landing flush on his neck. Brainbuster followed by a jumping double armed DDT, only for Dragon to miss the corkscrew moonsault. Fisherman buster by Son and he’s persevering with that cross arm bar despite having no success so far. None here too! Dragon rolls out the way of the Shooting Star and the crowd start calling for the heart punch. He’s more than happy to oblige on that. Release German, inverted face first suplex and Dragon picks up the win on his return after a ‘Phoenix splash’. Ultra Taro Jr. and Disco Machine head out to speak with Dragon after, handing him a T-shirt. He puts it on and it looks like he’ll be joining forces, only to double cross them and hit the ‘Psycho Driver’ on Taro. As they leave a tag match is announced for the next show pitting Dragon & Rising Son against Taro & Disco. A real good bout with Super Dragon and Rising Son pulling out every move in their arsenal in an effort to try and put the other away. A long match with the physicality and effort taking its toll on both men. Dragon took two insane bumps with the nestea plunge and that dive into the wall, but the guy is ridiculously talented and creative. When someone pulls out something that you haven’t seen before, you know they’re a smart one. Rising Son is a shade below, a fearless springboard rana to the floor, although I can’t help but think he ran out of ideas with constantly going back to the cross arm bar. The lead up to the rocking horse spot was a tad contrived (the handspring made no sense) although the payoff was great. After a couple of non-events so far in 2001, nice to finally reach some good stuff!

They’re still hawking Tough Enough, telling folk how and where to apply should they want to. Capri looks to be about the same size as Crash here. Go behind waistlock, but Holly escapes with a couple of elbows to the side of the head. Crash keeps hold of the ropes when running them, and when Capri charges, drops to the mat as his opponent then sails over the top rope to the outside. He follows him to the floor, repositions the ring steps and comes flying off them with a somersault body block. Molly Holly, who’s accompanying her cousin, liked that one. Capri reverses the whip to the corner, drop toe hold and Crash goes crashing head first into the middle turnbuckle. Awesome rolling Northern Light suplex for a two count. ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker complete with hip swivel aimed at Molly! He doesn’t follow up on it though, preferring to sweet talk a clearly uninterested Molly as Crash schoolboys him for a near fall. Holly blocks the attempted superplex and counters with a face first suplex off the top instead. Capri misses a splash in the corner, Holly with a bulldog and he picks up the win. Make that two enjoyable matches in a row on Metal, with Capri looking good in there and showing some personality which you don’t often get from the enhancement talent. Credit to Crash who gives these guys plenty of offense and time to get some stuff in and doesn’t just run through them (he did the same in the match against Low Ki that we watched last year). That rolling Northern Lights by Capri was quality and the first time I’ve seen that move.

Some absolutely wonderful, technically proficient chain wrestling between these two, but Kevin Kelly and Tom Prichard would rather talk about the upcoming Royal Rumble as opposed to calling the match. Saturn gets the better of a shoulder tackle and slides over to Terri for a kiss. I never really got them as a pairing as they have no chemistry together whatsoever. He drops Collyer with a running elbow smash and is up on the turnbuckles flexing his guns. Drop toe hold by Collyer followed by a lariat. Now he’s giving it the double bicep pose, mocking Saturn. Should’ve concentrated on his opponent mind as he telegraphs the backdrop and Saturn with an up kick. Superkick and Terri is on the apron distracting the referee giving Saturn the opportunity to drop a knee to his opponent’s groin. Release overhead belly to belly. He picks Collyer up in an over the shoulder backbreaker and then runs him chest first, upside down, into the turnbuckles. Tiger bomb. Saturn whips his man into the corner, but is met by an elbow to the jaw after he charges in after him. Collyer with a flapjack, although loses his balance on the German suplex. A Northern Lights gets him a near fall though as Saturn is forced to punch him in the ribs to break the hold. Saturn reverses the Irish whip and after a bit of jockeying for position, one Death Valley Driver later this is all over. Only two matches into this ‘C’ show stuff but I’m not regretting it in the slightest as it punctuates the longer matches nicely. The opening 30 seconds of this was some of the best pure wrestling I’ve watched so far in 2001. Collyer is very similar to Donovan Morgan in that he’s not that charismatic, although does try to engage the fans (well once he did!).

American Dragon is providing guest commentary for this match where he confirms what I thought last week, that he is injured (knee) and doesn’t know how long he’ll be out for. As a result, Shooter Schultz is subbing for him in this MCW Southern tag title defence. Jack overpowers Spanky so he looks to use his speed advantage over the big man. Slingshot headscissors followed by an arm drag and then a Japanese arm drag. Double back drop. Beautiful butterfly suplex by Shooter on Bo. Schultz misses a charge in the corner, and at the same time he goes crashing into the turnbuckle, Jack nails him with a forearm from the apron. Double shoulder tackle for a two. Rear chinlock, and Dragon mentions how the ref should keep a close eye on this because the Dupps have been known to choke during chinlocks and similar holds. Powerslam/big splash combination and Schultz kicks out of the lateral press. Shooter ducks a swinging arm, release German and he’s able to make the tag to Spanky. Bulldog off the middle to Jack. Wheelbarrow roll up and Bo is there in the nick of time for the save. That brings in Shooter and he clotheslines Bo to the outside. Moonsault press by Spanky, but at two Bo pulls referee William Gibson from the ring. Pescado to the floor, although Spanky ends up taking out Gibson as well as Bo. Shooter with an exploder suplex, frog splash by Spanky however there’s no-one to count the pin. He gets the visual three before Jason Sensation and Schultz grab hold of Gibson and throw him in the ring. Near fall as Jack has just had enough time to recover and raises a shoulder. Jack reverses the Irish whip, ‘Brain Scramble’ by the Dupps and they are your new Southern tag team champions. Decent match with a strong closing stretch. I’m starting to see, despite their size, why the Dupps never made it out of developmental (I don’t see anything in Bo) and the Haas brother’s already look much better prospects. Dragon wasn’t bad on commentary, a tad annoying on occasion but that’s it. With him out indefinitely (he attributed the knee injury to the Dupps) a case of getting the belts away from Spanky and he.

Today’s TV episode features matches that were all taped at the ‘Corinth Chaos’ show a week earlier. Richards has got some words for the crowd, however a dodgy mic means we can’t make out what he has to say. Lawler backs him into the corner off a lock up and despite clenching his fist ready, Richards outstretches his arms and we get a clean break. Not so next time as Richards goes to cheap shot ‘the King’, but he blocks the punch and decks him with a right hand of his own. He steps through the ropes to the floor and removes his shirt trying to psyche himself up. Check out Lawler sell the removal of the shirt with his facials. Richards is now ready for a right and pounds away on ‘the King’ until he turns the tables, firing back and pummelling him to the mat. Stomp to the groin and Richards is on the outside again threatening to return to the dressing room. Naturally he doesn’t and he’s back in the ring just before the ten count. He starts stamping his foot for the ‘Steven-kick’, but his efforts to get the fans to clap along with him elicits the opposite reaction as they boo instead. Richards is in ‘the King’s’ face telling him to “look in to my eyes” as if he’s trying to hypnotize him to join his crusade; his response is a short sharp jab to the nose. He misses the fist drop and Richards has finally got a bit of control of things. Elbow drop for a two. Lawler escapes the rear chinlock and Richards gets another near fall after a suplex. He takes ‘the King’ on a tour of the turnbuckles, ramming his head into each, but all that does is slowly fire him. Lawler pulls down the strap, but Richards backs off, PULLS THE STRAP BACK UP and offers him his hand. That was genius! ‘The King’ accepts before booting him in the gut and pulling that strap back down. Stunner! The ‘ten punch spot’ in the corner becomes fifty punches as Lawler continues and continues to rain down blows on his opponent. Whip to the opposite corner is reversed and ‘the King’ goes crashing into referee William Gibson. ‘KO’ punch by Richards, however Gibson is clutching at his ribs and can’t count the cover. Richards goes and grabs him, giving him the “look in to my eyes” spiel, but Lawler with a schoolboy roll up as he’s doing so for the win. Simple action here, but fun and highly entertaining throughout with a crowd who lapped it all up. That spot with Richards pulling Lawler’s strap back up was tremendous.

One of the officials does his best to try and keep Justice Pain’s entourage from accompanying him to ringside, but Wifebeater manages to sneak his way past. Spin kick by Tajiri that only just fails to connect as both men are sizing the other up. Pain blocks the hip toss so Tajiri kicks him in the head instead. ‘Stand off respect spot’ and I wonder how many times I’ll be writing that this year? Justice shoves Tajiri to the mat but he’s right back to his feet with the nip up and then flips him the double bird. Samoan drop by Pain. He whips Tajiri into the corner only to go charging head first into a thrust kick. Tajiri misses with the enziguiri and Justice slaps on an STF, forcing him to crawl to the ropes for the break. Spinning toe hold that Tajiri escapes from with a kick to the head before applying an STF of his own. A pretty funny moment as he slaps Pain on the top of his head while he’s trapped. Justice backdrops Tajiri over the top rope and although he lands on the apron, is felled by a forearm smash. Here comes Wifebeater with the predictable interference, holding a chair over his face so that Pain can land a slingshot leg drop from in the ring. A lovely Asai moonsault with Wifebeater keeping Tajiri in position. This is fast becoming a handicap match with the official making no attempt whatsoever to do anything about the interference. Tajiri reverses a whip on the floor and Justice wipes out a row or so of chairs. He launches one of the chairs at the head of Wifebeater before placing another over Pain’s face and stomping it. They return to the ring where the two trade open hand slaps to the chest. Handspring elbow by Tajiri. Stunner, knee to the head and a roll up for two. A pair of kicks box Pain’s ears and a basement dropkick for another near fall. ‘Brain buster’ and before the ref has even started to count the cover, Wifebeater is in pulling Tajiri off his man. There are already calls of “bullshit” as the crowd know exactly how this is going to end up. This is ridiculous as Wifebeater with a chokebomb on Tajiri right in front of the referee. Pain with the lionsault and he retains the CZW title. The “bullshit” chants are even louder now. Zandig makes an appearance and passes Tajiri a table which he puts Justice through with a double foot stomp off the top as they try to send the fans home happy. In the Super Crazy match we got a disqualification for outside interference, so how on earth was Wifebeater allowed to continually interfere all match, including entering the ring to be directly involved in the finish? That lack of consistency is a real bug bear for me. Tajiri had some nice moments but I didn’t think much of Pain at all. I also found this dull at times with my attention starting to wane. After watching the Crazy match I thought this probably wouldn’t end cleanly, something that was reaffirmed as Wifebeater accompanied Pain to ringside.

After Ric Blade makes his entrance he’s joined in the ring by Zandig, who says that he forgot to book Nick Mondo’s flight for tonight and therefore Ric doesn’t have an opponent. Zandig is fairly dismissive of Blade’s wrestling ability, calling him a ‘gymnast’, before apologizing to “all the suckers who came to see Ric Blade flip and fly like a ballerina” because it ain’t gonna happen. Justice Pain’s music kicks in and he joins the two of them in the ring. Zandig tries to get him to leave thinking that he should be concentrating on his match with Tajiri later, however Pain has a few words to say. He tells Zandig that this might be his company, but Zandig didn’t build this company; he built this company, “the number one high flyer on the independents” Ric Blade built this company, Lobo falling from the ceiling, falling from scaffolds built this company. Although he doesn’t like Ric Blade, he respects him as an athlete and for what he does in this ring and for the boys in the back. Zandig may have cancelled Nick Mondo’s flight, but he thinks he deserves a match and introduces Super Crazy as his new opponent. Great reaction for Crazy from the crowd here in Delaware. They haven’t even locked up and a “five star match” chant has broken out, proving that that nonsense has been going on longer than we realised. A meticulously rehearsed and co-operative opening finishing in the ‘respect stand off’ and the audience are giving them a standing ovation for it. Yuck! “C-Z-Dub” chant with the wrestlers encouraging the fans instead of concentrating on the match. Crazy hot shots Blade across the top rope and hits the double jump springboard moonsault for a two. Blade takes to the floor, however Crazy crashes and burns on the pescado as he ducks back in to avoid it. Big running flip dive over the top to the outside. A couple of kicks to the head by Blade with some of the most blatant thigh slapping you’ll see. They return to the ring where Crazy catches him with a quebrada body block. Springboard missile dropkick gets him another two. Irish whip, Blade with the Tajiri handspring and he drops Crazy with a bicycle kick to the head. ‘Swanton bomb’ for Blade’s first near fall of the match. He grabs a couple of chairs and then sits Crazy on the top turnbuckle. Blade positions them where he wants whilst Crazy has to pretend to sell as he does the furniture arranging. Crazy blocks the rana and counters with a sunset flip powerbomb off the top onto those chairs. Of course in typical Ric Blade style, that’s not enough to put indestructible Ric away. Blade counters a second powerbomb, this time DDT’ing Crazy onto the chairs. Shooting Star press and here’s your ‘Ric Blade botch of the night’ as he doesn’t get enough rotation and looks a shade away from breaking his neck. He’s just lay there and this actually looks serious. Not serious enough to stop the match though as Nick Mondo, presumably fresh off chartering a replacement flight, rushes out and starts putting the boots to Blade. The ref rings for the bell awarding the match to Blade via disqualification due to the outside interference (I think). Crazy and Blade team up to run Mondo off, hitting five consecutive moonsaults between them at one point, culminating with Blade’s corkscrew variety. A bit of mic work follows as they set up a three way for a future card. With ECW no more, so begins Crazy and Tajiri’s tour of the independents. Cheap ass finish aside, the match worked a treat for those fans in attendance but you’re having a laugh if you think this is anything other than bad. A co-operative spotfest with zero transitions and the wrestlers going straight from one high spot to the next. Add in the lack of urgency with the way they were happy to stop wrestling to encourage the chants, the sitting around waiting to set the spots up; no thank you. As someone who finds neck compression bumps/injuries extremely uncomfortable to watch, I genuinely thought the worse on that Shooting Star, but fortunately ‘indestructible Ric’ lived up to the name!

The rematch for the held up JCW tag team titles which, although a tables match, is to be contested under slightly different rules as you have to both put your opponents through a table and also score a pinfall over them to be declared the winner. The teams don’t make it to the ring as Wenzel makes a beeline for Mafia the moment he removes his jacket. Mafia launches a chair at him, however Wenzel reverses the whip into a cart, sending Mafia crashing into it with some force. He throws him into the wall, but Mafia is able to life up one of the nearby tables and slam it into Wenzel. The two continue to go at it with Wenzel whipping Mafia into the emergency exit door, although they don’t head out the building like I half expected. They finally venture into the ring as we get our first glimpse of Mollson and Mack (there’s only one roaming handheld camera filming this and no commentary (which is a blessing after last time!)). Mollson chokes Mack with a chair before cracking him over the back with it. Da Hit Squad’s manager (no idea who he is) gives the big dog a shove but he barely acknowledges it. Mack avoids being rammed into the ring post, sending Mollson into it instead. Double team hot shot on Wenzel. As he’s staggering about on the outside that manager clocks him with a chair, Mafia with the cover, getting a three count, and now they just need to put one of the Dogs through a table. Wenzel snatches a chair off him and then repeatedly slams his head into the wooden bleachers as a couple of fans try to get a “J-C-Dub” chant going. Snap suplex on the floor. A quick shot of what’s happening inside to catch Mollson miss a moonsault. Wenzel puts the boots to Mafia and drills him with a chair to the head. Back to the in ring action just in time to catch that unknown manager throwing powder in the face of Mack, double crossing DHS, as he’s sat on the top turnbuckle about to put Mollson through a table. Mafia folds Wenzel double with a belly to back suplex which elicits a “broke his neck” chant. Mollson catches him with a boot to the face and Wenzel with his modified chokeslam. With Mack still blinded by the powder, they lift Mafia up and give him to Mack who superbombs his own partner through the table. Wenzel makes an immediate cover and the Moondogs 2000 are the new JCW tag team champions. The manager celebrates with the Dogs and basically accuses the DHS of going soft in a promo to the camera. A promo he then repeats over the house mic, and a third time in a post-match dressing room interview. The teams made great use of the venue (a high school gym) brawling all over it and this was what I was expecting from their first match. There was just something missing for me though, it didn’t feel right and while I can’t put my finger on it, I’m guessing it was to do with that manager. I didn’t recognise him and he wasn’t with DHS a week ago. Why do Da Hit Squad even need a manager in the first place? While the finish was a nice idea it took an eternity to set up and there was not a chance Mack would still be ‘blinded’ by the time the Moondogs finally got Mafia over to him for the superbomb. If it had happened a matter of seconds after the blinding (like in the Suicidal Tendencies/Boogalou Crew tag), not an issue, but this was stretching things a little too far.

Go behind take down by Guido, a few open hand strikes to the ribs and Ki crawls to the ropes for the break. After both get a couple of early near falls Guido offers Ki his hand, however Ki with the cheap shot kick to the stomach as he accepts. Handspring kick to the head. Irish whip, Guido ducks the high kick but a dropkick to the legs takes him spectacularly off his feet. As he’s on his knees, Ki with a series of kicks to the chest while Guido calls him on (“C’mon bitch!”), until one to the head folds him up double. Whip to the corner is reversed, Ki goes for the tip up, but Guido snatches and then pancakes him to the mat. Knee drop to the head and I like the way Guido pulls his kneepad down before dropping it. They trade hard knife edge chops and Guido’s are skin blistering. Back suplex for a two. Ki runs into a back elbow but then catches Guido with a powerslam for a two of his own. Guido escapes the ‘Ki Krusher’, Ki blocks the ‘Maritato’ and lands a German. He calls for the ‘Ki Krusher 2000’, float over by Guido and this time hits his ‘Maritato’. Lateral press and at the count of two the bell rings. Guido is as confused as the rest of us, shouting “what the f*ck was that?” The ref indicates that the time limit has expired, something confirmed by the ring announcer as the match is declared a draw. A brief “five more minutes” chant, but Guido isn’t interested in hanging around any longer than necessary. With Ki still in the ring and Guido long gone, the ring announcer says how he’s spoken with Commissioner Chris Johnson who has signed a rematch for the 2/10 show, this time with no time limit. What match has a six minute time limit? I initially thought that someone had rang the bell on Ki’s behalf to save him from being pinned, but this finish was even worse. If the whole idea was to build to the no time limit re-match, then surely give them at least ten minutes so the draw is a more realistic outcome? With the match being so short it never gave them the chance to get going. Disappointing.

Corey is still wearing that yellow beanie, while he has passed the shades onto Dave. Bulldog blocks Shooter’s attempted German, scoots behind, shoves him into the ropes and then powerslams him to the mat. Tag to Steel, but he gets dropped by a Schultz clothesline. He makes a tag of his own to Spanky, however he fails to connect on a wild swinging right as ‘All That’ ducks out the way. They run through a few counters and reversals before Steel pancakes Spanky to the mat for a two count. Derrick King makes his first appearance in the match, but before he can get his hands on Spanky he’s crawled back to his own corner and tagged Shooter. Huracanrana by DK, Schultz reverses the whip though and drives him to the mat with a back suplex. Now Spanky wants in and he puts the boots to King. Superkick out of nowhere by DK. Bulldog, lateral press on Schultz after a flying shoulderblock and Spanky is in there to break it up. Dragon must be carrying an injury as he hasn’t been involved in this once. The match breaks down with everyone getting involved although, again, Steel nails Dragon before he can get in the ring. Schultz and Raines continue to fight it out in the ring while the ref is on the outside trying to restore some order. The Bulldog hits his modified powerbomb but there’s no-one to count the pin. Rob Harlem is out and drops a somersault leg drop to the back of Raines’ neck before rolling Schultz on top. All this does though is bring out Joey Abs who nails Shooter with a double axe handle and then pulls Bulldog back on top. The official sees the Raines cover, slides inside and counts the three. When you watch a match for the American Dragon and then the American Dragon isn’t involved in it… This is also the third match on the show that featured some sort of take on the referee being distracted/KO’ed and outside interference leading to the finish. Once is bearable, three times is overkill. No Dragon, although we get some Shooter, Spanky and DK, however this is totally skippable.

Following a year long absence, making his return to the Power Hour is Grandmaster Sexay, Brian Christopher. Before they get started he informs Dave and Corey that whoever is going to conduct this interview with Too Cool is going to have to do it ‘Too Cool style’! He pulls out a chain and passes that to Corey before putting some shades on him and a bright yellow beanie hat. They’ve supposedly got Scotty 2 Hotty live by satellite to say a few words, but I’d be amazed if that was the case and it wasn’t pre-taped. When they return to the studio the Mean Street Posse head out to join the Grandmaster. Rodney tells him that he may have been someone here a long time ago, but the Mean Street Posse rule Memphis now. Sexay calls them a pair of jabronis and, even though they have a match tonight, offers to face either one in the ring right now. Corey and Dave put the kibosh on that as there is already a match set and want to get the Posse’s opponents out here so they can get it underway. Dave tries to calm GMS down telling him he can get his hands on them this evening, although he decides to stick around for a bit to watch proceedings up close. The Posse jump the brothers from behind and are able to get a little double team action in on Charlie after throwing Russ to the outside. Sit out slam by Gas. Charlie with the float over and he drops Pete with a reverse DDT. A pair of tags and Russ takes it to the Posse. The Haas’ hit their handspring moonsault/corkscrew leg drop finisher, but Rodney with the save. Double clothesline by Russ. He heads up top and its obvious what is coming next as the official is stood ridiculously close to Gas right behind him. Yup, he dives out the way and Russ takes out the referee with a flying crossbody. Pete pulls out some brass knux and GMS says “this isn’t gonna happen” as he leaves his position at the commentary desk to help the brothers. Sexay hooks Pete’s right arm as he’s about to clock Russ, drops him and then levels Rodney with a superkick. He puts Russ on top as William Gibson comes around to count the fall. The Posse jump the Grandmaster after the match and are still beating on him as we head for a break. Another short Haas brother’s match, although this was all about adding a bit of spice to the Too Cool/Mean Street Posse match at ‘Corinth Chaos’. Glad they protected their finisher, although it’s a shame we’re still getting those predictable and terrible looking ref bumps in Memphis.

Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee, along with the Kat, join Corey to promote the big ‘Corinth Chaos’ show tonight. ‘The Superstar’ says being the Commissioner he could quite easily just stick on a suit and walk about all night, but he likes to ‘compete’ so is putting himself in the Royal Rumble Battle Royal. ‘The King’ interrupts him, knowing full well that the only reason he’s entering that Rumble is because the winner gets $10,000 and everyone knows what Dundee would do for $10,000! The Kat addresses Ivory’s comments from earlier in the show (they’ve a match at Corinth Chaos), before we get a taped video interview from Steven Richards. Richards says how he’s been called many things like zealot, cult leader and even psycho, but the one he prefers is ‘martyr’. At ‘Corinth Chaos’ Jerry Lawler will find out why he is different to every other wrestler he’s ever faced, because he is willing to die for his cause; it’s not just a wrestling match, it’s a life and death struggle between good and evil. He promises to teach Lawler that wrong is wrong and right is Right to Censor. ‘The King’ warns him about being careful for what he wishes for as he just might get it. He’s going to show him the difference between right and wrong, and he’ll find out he’s on the wrong side Onto the match and Bill Dundee looks fairly slow at the opening with Slash pretty much having to hip toss himself. Lawler backs Slash into the corner, but he blocks a right hand and decks ‘the King’ with one of his own. The crowd start a “Jerry, Jerry” chant which he mockingly joins in with. “Jerry, Jerry” becomes “Wolfie, sucks!” on them seeing that! Big backdrop by Bradley and ‘the Superstar’ is in to break up the cover. Bradley goes for it again, this time though he telegraphs it and Lawler drills him with a right. Snap mare, but he avoids the fist drop as Lawler punches the mat. Slash peppers ‘the King’ before biting him on the forehead. He misses the leg drop off the middle and Lawler makes the hot tag. All four men are now going at it in the ring, whilst on the outside Victoria has shown up and is attacking The Kat. With everything that is happening, the official is really struggling to keep control of things. Slash goes to suplex Dundee from the apron back into the ring when he has his legs taken out from under him by Scott Vick. ‘The Superstar’ falls on top; however it’s only a two count as Slash kicks out of the pin. Vick heads over to Dave and Corey, explaining that was nothing more than ‘an eye for an eye’ after Slash cost him his match last week. Dundee eventually gets the three on Slash, but we missed what led to the finish as the cameraman was having a hard time following everything. The last we saw was Slash heading to the top turnbuckle, so my guess is there was no-one home on whatever he tried, but that’s just an educated guess. The action here was nothing to write home about, but was better when Lawler was in there as opposed to Dundee. A couple of storylines were advanced with Slash and Vick and Victoria and The Kat, although it was tough following everything at the end with so much going on. I have a hunch that Vick’s trip on Slash should’ve been the finish and something went wrong, as that would explain why his promo to Dave and Corey didn’t really make sense (the match was still going at that point and he hadn’t cost Slash anything) and why the resultant finish was missed.

It’s time to get rowdy and move some things! There’s an advert for Tough Enough on the bottom of the screen telling you how to apply if you think you’ve got what it takes to be a WWF superstar. Morgan escapes the hammerlock with a lovely roll through and grabs the wrist. Kwik with the reversal, however Morgan backs him into the corner and drives a shoulder into his mid-section on the break. A series of forearms, uppercuts and kicks drop Kwik, but as Morgan starts running his mouth to the fans and forgetting about his opponent, Kwik flips himself up to the top turnbuckle and lands a missile dropkick. The pair of them badly screw up a frankensteiner with Kwik spiking Morgan on his head. Kwik goes for the Irish whip, but Morgan keeps hold of his hand and hits a cracking belly to back suplex. Northern Lights suplex for a two. Reversal by Kwik and he takes Morgan down with a ‘flatliner’. A side kick for a near fall before he puts Morgan away with a sit out face first suplex. I’ll be watching quite a bit of stuff from Metal in the re-watch as there’s a ton of interesting looking matches on the shows this year with the likes of Chris Daniels, Low Ki, Samoa Joe, Scoot Andrews and more all working as enhancement talent. Fundamentally Morgan is so much better than Kwik it’s just the same problem with him, he’s as dull as dish water and struggles to make a connection with the audience. I know he works NOAH later in 2001 and that should be more up his field than working in the US. Kwik has his flashy high spots but still isn’t that good.

A Cruiserweight title defence for Chavo and he’s straight in Karagias’ face, shoving him to the mat the moment he enters the ring, as Mike Tenay talks about this new attitude he’s adopted. Evan responds in kind while Chavo is handing his title belt to the official, unloading with a trio of rights. He whips Chavo into the corner but then runs into a big boot. Aggressive rear chinlock, where Chavo snatches Karagias around the neck and drags him to the canvas. Evan with a double leg take down as the two are rolling around getting shots in wherever possible and it looks more like a fight than your stereotypical cruiserweight match. The referee manages to separate them but Chavo is right back on his opponent, laying in some knife edge chops. He sits him on the middle turnbuckle and dropkicks him in the mush before scraping his boot across Evan’s face. Karagias reverses the Irish whip, Chavo slides through his legs but Karagias plants him with a spinebuster. An atomic drop sends Chavo crashing head first into the top turnbuckle and Evan comes off the top with a crossbody for a two count. Scoop powerslam for the same outcome. Wheelbarrow into a facebuster, which they barely pull off, but instead of going for the pin Karagias chooses to dance. When he finally does make the cover, Chavo has recovered sufficiently to kick out. Boot to the mid-section by Chavo, brain buster and he retains the gold. The new attitude has added an extra grittiness to Chavo in his offense which I like, but overall this is forgettable and fairly scrappy in places.

An NWA Wildside tag team title match with the Boogalou Crew putting the straps on the line against the number one contenders, Suicidal Tendencies, who tonight consist of Adam Jacobs and John Phoenix. The commentator states that that these are the two finest teams in the country bar none, which are some lofty words to live up to. The first move of the match is the ‘Boogalou bounce’ and Phoenix is alert enough to break up the pin otherwise this one could well have been over before it got started. High leg lariat by Dazz on Phoenix and this time its Jacobs doing the saving. Wrenn is in to help his partner and they have the ST backed up against the ropes. The Crew run at them, but while J.C. clotheslines Phoenix over the top rope to the floor, Jacobs ducks under Wrenn’s attempt and backdrops him to the outside. Huge stereo planchas by Dazz and Jacobs moments before a commercial break. We return just in time to see J.C. snatch Jacobs as he comes off the top, taking him down and applying ‘the Rings of Saturn’. He sees Phoenix coming to make the save, so let’s go of the hold and puts him in it instead. Jacobs isn’t getting away with it that easy as here’s Wrenn and its double ‘Rings of Saturn’. Combination drop toe hold/springboard leg drop to the back of the head by the Crew. Phoenix keeps hold of the arm after reversing an Irish whip, boot to the mid-section and a step up ‘Rocker dropper’. I’m not sure what he had planned next but Wrenn catches and launches him with an exploder suplex. Tag to Dazz, another Irish whip is reversed and this time Jacobs knees J.C. in the back from the apron as he hits the ropes. The shot doesn’t have much effect, but distracts him sufficiently for Phoenix to land a spin kick to the head. Double superkick for a near fall. Jeez another commercial break, are they for real? Spin around ‘X-Factor’ by Phoenix after a back kick low blow put a stop to the backslide. Dazz avoids the running Shooting Star, but Jacobs is busy once more from the apron, dropping him with a lariat as he tries to get back to his feet. Flying elbow off the top by Jacobs isn’t enough to put J.C. away. Bodyslam, but he goes to the well once too often, as this time Dazz crotches him on the turnbuckle before hitting a top rope frankensteiner. Jacobs makes the tag to Phoenix, but so does J.C. to Wrenn. ‘Blackhole slam’ on Phoenix. Wrenn clotheslines him to the outside and then turns his attention to Jacobs. Huge gorilla press slam into a facebuster. Sunset flip powerbomb to the hard wooden floor by Dazz (he tried a very adventurous leap off the back of Wrenn as he was on all fours but didn’t pull it off, so ended up executing it the conventional way). As the referee checks on both, Jacobs throws powder in the face of Wrenn. J.C. with a DDT on Jacobs, but then bumps into Scotty and the still blinded Wrenn powerbombs his own partner. ‘Cactus clothesline’ by Phoenix, although he doesn’t take Wrenn over with him and he has to roll under the bottom rope to the floor. Great near fall as Dazz kicks out of that powerbomb at the last moment. Desperation ‘Sky High’ on Jacobs. Wrenn has recovered from the temporary blinding and holds a chair in front of Jacobs’ face which J.C. dropkicks. They slingshot Phoenix into the ring, ‘Boogalou bounce’, but at the count of two Jacobs pulls the official out the ring to the floor. Dazz with a baseball slide to Jacobs, they then sit Phoenix on Wrenn’s shoulder and he’s got another chair which he’s holding in front of his face. J.C. climbs the turnbuckles for their top rope ‘Van Daminator’, but is pushed off the top by the Cole brothers and goes flying head first into the chair. ‘Bulldog jam’ by Jacobs and we have new tag team champions. Air Paris joins his Suicidal Tendencies buddies and the three of them celebrate their win together. I don’t know if I would go as far as to say these are the best teams in the country, although based on this they are both very good and I liked this one an awful lot. There was some messy looking stuff in there (the spin around X-Factor, the initial sunset flip powerbomb), but it was all action and the effort was top draw from everyone involved. I was super impressed by Wrenn who is big, has the power moves, but also the agility and is a strong hot tag. How on earth did this guy go nowhere or at least not get a look at by the WWF? They didn’t have the mullets and we didn’t get a close up, but pretty certain this was the Cole brothers of WCW fame.