GSR

Dave and Corey are rather excited to see what Brandon Baxter’s face looks like after Dr Salmons has finished working on him. The heels make their entrance with Slash hiding Baxter under his jacket, only for there to be no big reveal as he’s wearing a mask. Brandon says that there is no way that this mask is coming off today (angle alert!), he’s going to stand in the corner and the mask is staying where it’s at, on his head! Bill Dundee still throws a mean looking punch. He clotheslines Slash over the top rope to the outside, a hip toss on Bradley and he tags in Victoria which means ‘the Superstar’ must tag out to the Kat. Victoria has got the Chyna footwear on to make her look taller than she is. The two women exchange bodyslams and that’s the extent of their efforts before they let the men have another go. Some half-baked nothing action and Victoria is back in with a double axe handle from behind on ‘the King’. Victoria gets a two count on the Kat after a leg drop, but then lands on her face from a second rope moonsault. The match breaks down with everyone in the ring, and Bradley accidentally clotheslines Victoria when Lawler ducks under the shot. As he checks on her, ‘the King’ rolls him up for the three. Lawler grabs hold of Baxter and is about to pull off the mask, but we’re out of time for today! Poor match with all four men going through the motions and not really looking that interested. The Kat has never resembled a wrestler and her exchanges with Victoria (who is super green at this point) would have JR bringing out his bowling shoe reference. The one thing going for Victoria is that she at least looks to have a bit of athleticism about her, what with attempting that moonsault, even if she did land on her face!

According to Spanky the ratings were down 83% last week in the female demographic because ‘the Kliq’ spent the holiday with their families. Even though he had a heck of a Thanksgiving dinner he’s still a little hungry, so tells Derrick King to bring that mashed potato hair cut out here along with those two dumplings Alan Steel and Blade Boudreaux so they can eat some more turkey for lunch! DK and Spanky kick us off continuing their rivalry from a fortnight ago. They trade blows before King whips Spanky into the corner where he leaps to the middle turnbuckle and back flips over the charging King, only for DK to level him with a clothesline. Moonsault bodyblock for a two. Steel and Dragon light each others chests up with chops and a face first full nelson slam by ‘All That’ gets him a near fall. Double hip toss takedown and Dragon wants no more for the time being, tagging out to Schultz. As King runs the ropes, Spanky knees him in the back. DK drills Spanky with an almighty right hand sending him crashing from the apron to the floor, but the distraction enables Shooter to catch him with a belly to back, driving King to the mat in the process. He counters Spanky’s superplex with a face first variety off the top, but then misses the senton as Spanky moves out the way. Dragon is now lighting up DK and a big running forearm smash in the corner. Fallaway slam with bridge and King is able to get a shoulder up. Belly to belly by Shooter, slingshot elbow by Spanky and they still can’t put DK away. King sidesteps whatever Spanky had got planned off the top, and although he lands on his feet, a DK superkick immediately takes him off them. Tag to Blade but the ref misses it as he’s dealing with Dragon and Schultz in the opposite corner. As he then tries to get Boudreaux out of there, ‘the Kliq’ triple team King. ‘All That’ and Blade have seen enough and brush past the ref as all six men are duking it out. Great near fall by Steel with a sunset flip on Dragon. The ring empties and we’re left with Spanky and King as everyone else is fighting on the outside. Spanky picks up his Light Heavyweight title belt and is about to wallop DK with it, however on seeing him coming he manages to back drop him. Facebuster onto the belt and King gets a pin over the champion and it’s a win for team Power Pro. Fantastic studio match and in all likelihood the Power Pro match of the year. When you hear Dave and Corey raving about it like they do in the aftermath you know you’ve been privy to a treat. The MCW trio were a great unit, utilising plenty of quick tags and high impact offense as they looked to isolate Derrick King and wear him down to the point that he could take no more. It was all action and no sitting back. Whatever they threw at DK he was able to survive, as the gutsy, local regular withstood it all while the crowd got more and more into it. I wouldn’t say that Steel and Boudreaux came along for the ride (well maybe Blade!) but this all about Derrick King. A heck of a showing from him here and he gets the pin over the champion which will no doubt lead to another title shot in the upcoming weeks.

Spanky struggles to cope wth the size and power of the much larger Dupps in the opening exchanges. Quebrada off the middle, but Bo catches him in mid-air. He dallies around for too long though and Spanky is able to slide down his back before rolling him up for a two. Attempted monkey flip, however Bo reverses position and sits Spanky on the top turnbuckle. Spanky blocks a right, drills him with one of his own and comes off the middle with a bulldog. Double dropkick by ‘the Kliq’ taking advantage of the referee’s five count and Bo has had enough, tagging in Jack. Dragon with a spinning heel kick and a double hip toss before Spanky hits a standing moonsault. As the Dupps retreat to the outside, stereo pescados from ‘the Kliq’. Jack blocks the Lucha wheelbarrow and turns it into a slingshot wheelbarrow suplex. Double shoulder charge as the Dupps look to try and wear Spanky down, with Jack even taking to just throwing him through the ropes to the arena floor on more than one occasion. A huge big boot and a disorientated Spanky is trying to tag in Bo. It looks like Spanky was meant to counter a powerbomb into a facebuster, although something clearly goes wrong in the execution as it exactly resembles a powerbomb. Only when after, Jack is holding his head and David Jett mentions that he thinks Spanky drove his head into the mat, do you realise what happened. Both men make tags and Dragon is in like the proverbial house on fire taking the fight to the opposition. Tornado DDT out of the corner on Bo and Jack is there to break up the cover. Dragon with a blind tag to Spanky, he then cartwheels through the double clothesline and Spanky with a crossbody off the top to both. Jack counters ‘Sliced Bread #2’ (which Kevin Kelly calls ‘the Acid Drop’) by slamming Spanky hard to the mat. They go for their ‘Brain Scramble’, but Dragon kicks Bo in the back of the head, Spanky cradles Jack and ‘the Kliq’ retain their tag titles. The Dupps attack them after the match with Jack cracking Dragon over the head with a chair and then pulling off his mask. Joey Abs, the Dupps’ friend, is out to try and talk some sense into them, but Jack nails him with the chair too and they leave the three of them laid out. I don’t know if Spanky legit took a bump to the head on one of the occasions that Jack threw him out the ring, but that would certainly explain why the final 90 seconds or so of this were so scrappy and messy compared to the rest of the match. Either that or he just had a bad run blowing that facebuster counter, the rough crossbody off the top and then this ugly looking backdrop that Dragon gave him into one of the Dupps. Prior to that I was enjoying this and there was nothing wrong with either the match or its structure (the power of the Dupps against the speed and quickness of the Kliq). Bo does look pensive at times, though I think that’s his character as opposed to him thinking and not knowing what to do. Dragon loses his mask for the second time in his career and this looked like a way to build heat on the Dupps with the way that it happened.

Debra is now the Lieutenant Commissioner of MCW (whatever that means), something David Jett isn’t overly impressed by. Title match for the MCW tag belts, and after the ‘Kliq 2000’ make their entrance the camera cuts to the dressing room to see The Dupps laying out ‘The Triad’, although the attack on Thrash (Glen Ruth) happens behind the dressing room door and out of view. The match commences after the commercial break and Seven is forced to go it alone as Thrasher is unable to compete due to the earlier attack by The Dupps. Action is joined in progress right as Seven, who is heavily favouring his ribs which were injured in the same attack, misses an elbow off the middle as Dragon moves out the way. Combination drop toe hold/baseball slide dropkick by ‘the Kliq’. Spanky dropkicks Seven in the back, however he’s able to reverse the Irish whip and Spanky runs face first into his big boot. Vertical suplex, but Dragon is in and kicks Seven in the back of the head allowing Spanky to counter into a DDT. The ref doesn’t even attempt to try and get Dragon out of there and after a pair of frog splashes from opposite corners we have new tag team champions. I guess Glen Ruth no showed or, more likely, is no longer in the WWF and this was a damage limitations job and a case of getting the belts away from ‘The Triad’ asap. Seven did an admiral job at selling the ribs throughout and Spanky and Dragon should work as the team to build your tag division around although this did nothing for me. Maybe it was Seven’s limitations, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up as one of those days.

Lance Cade is out and wants a word with Dave. Earlier in the show Tracey Smothers jumped him from behind as he’s fed up with it. Although he respects Tracey for how long he’s been in this business, he needs to realise that he’s not a kid anymore, and Shawn Michaels taught him that if you’ve something to settle you do it right there in the ring, man to man, face to face. He challenges him to a Texas Street Fight right now and before Dave has even gotten back to his seat, Tracey is out and swinging as the two trade blows at ringside. Smothers rams him head first into the ring steps and looks to clothesline him, but Lance moves and he clotheslines the ring post instead. Tracey rolls into the ring and Cade catches him with a lariat off the top. The two continue to go at it as Jason Sensation joins Dave and Corey to provide some additional commentary. Texas Street Fight means that this is no DQ, so Fabulous Rocker (who I didn’t see arrive) is free to interfere and interfere he does, hitting an Arabian moonsault on Cade for a two count. This is turning into a handicap match as Rocker now lands a ‘Swanton bomb’, although the action isn’t called as Sensation is doing his Shawn Michaels impersonation (which is good to be fair!). Tracey tosses Lance to the outside, however appears to forget it’s no DQ as he distracts the ref so Rocker can cannonball off the apron and out onto him. Smothers makes the cover on the arena floor though Lance kicks out. Chair shot across the back before he throws Cade back into the ring. ‘Three point stance’ but Tracey runs right into an elbow. Bulldog off the middle and the Fabulous Rocker is in to break up the pin attempt. He starts celebrating like he’s won the match or something, and Lance clotheslines him over the top rope and to the outside. Cade fails to execute a simple ‘O’Connor roll’, however smartly moves his own position to turn it into a regulation roll up so it doesn’t look nearly as bad as it might have. Rocker waffles Cade with a road sign but he kicks out of the pin. Smothers superkicks a chair into his face and that’s still not enough to put his opponent away. The finish sees Tracey go to blast Lance once more with the chair, but Cade avoids the shot and it rebounds off the top rope and into Smothers’ own face. As he staggers around, Cade with a big boot into that chair, again sending it crashing into Tracey’s head, and he comes out on top. I thought I would like this a lot, I wanted to like it a lot, but it never quite reached those expectations I had set myself. Lance Cade overcoming the two-on-one odds and getting the clean win in a stipulated match like this should mean this was the blow off to the feud, but I can’t help think it would have been better had it just been Smothers and Cade going one on one without any involvement from Rocker. The brawling was good and I liked how Cade showed the maturity to cover for that blown roll up, though the finish was bad with Smothers stopping, before hitting himself in the head with the chair. Jason Sensation also provided a distraction from the action, not allowing Dave and Corey to call what was going on as they had to keep quiet to let him do his HBK impressions.

Tracey seems to be trying to impress Victoria with his dancing, although Bradley is advising him against it! Schultz and Kwik rush their opponents before the bell has rung and they quickly roll to the floor to try and regroup. No time to regroup here as Schultz Irish whips Kwik, who soars over the top rope and out onto them. Shoulderblock off the top turnbuckle to Bradley and Smothers goes to break up the cover, only for Kwik to move out the way and he drops a forearm across his own partner. Bradley shoves him and as they argue amongst themselves they forget about Kwik and Schultz. Superkick by Kwik, Schultz with an overhead belly to belly and the heels are again on the outside. For some reason Tracey is blaming Victoria and he shoves her in the chest. Not smart, as she responds in kind, shoving him back with Smothers taking a bump on the concrete for her. Bradley then throws him back in the ring, getting more and more frustrated with his partner. After a pair of Schultz T-bone suplexes, Victoria grabs at his ankle. He steps out to go after her, but the distraction has its desired effect as Bradley nails him with a baseball slide dropkick. Tracey is keeping the ref occupied on the inside allowing Bradley to work over Shooter on the out. The heels continue to goad and provoke Kwik on the apron and he falls for it every time. Constantly trying to get in there, but that just means Bradley and Smothers can double team Schultz behind the referee’s back while he’s dealing with Kwik. Tracey is once again dancing in front of Victoria, but she’s clearly neither a fan nor enjoying it! He shouts “bottom rope offense” and drops a forearm across Shooter’s throat from the lowest tier. When he goes to repeat from the middle, there’s no-one home as Schultz moves out the way in time Hot tag to Kwik, but when Smothers goes to tag Bradley he turns his back on him. He enters moments later anyway so not sure what the point of that was as it wasn’t like he’s leaving Tracey to go it alone. Axe kick, powerslam, followed by a leg drop off the top and Victoria is up on the apron. Kwik would rather sexually assault her than win the match as he forgets about the cover, goes over and kisses Victoria, flips her into the ring and then puts her over his knee and spanks her. ‘Krushbuster’ (which is a sit out face first suplex) on Bradley, and Smothers is there to break up the pin. He hits another on Tracey and that’s enough for the win as Bradley can’t get there in time to save his partner like he did him. Good stuff here.

“Hailing from America, the American Dragon”, first time I’ve ever noticed him introduced like that. Dragon tries to imitate Spanky’s dancing-come-hip swivel, although he’s not got much in the way of rhythm! The Salsario Boys jump them from behind and take it to Spanky until he ducks a double clothesline and levels each of them, at the same time, with a one footed dropkick. Leg lariat to Enrique. Big spinebuster by Dragon, he then flips Enrique over and puts him in a camel clutch so Spanky can nail him with a baseball slide dropkick. ‘Death Valley Driver’ followed by a moonsault off the middle. This awesome bridging suplex by Dragon and Hector is in to break up the pin. Spanky hits a modified Michinoku Driver on him, top rope elbow by Dragon, Spanky with the frog splash and a win for the number one contenders to the MCW tag titles. This is essentially a squash and nothing memorable bar that quality suplex Dragon pulled out.

As Jerry Lawler joins Dave Brown, Dave says how you don’t mess with ‘the King’, Brandon Baxter did last week and he paid for it. Lawler believes that he got what he deserves and then cleverly segues plugging Jim Carey’s new movie ‘The Grinch’ into replaying the footage of him throwing the fire. He hoped that would settle everything, but then Baxter started complaining that he’s disfigured and badly burned. As he was whining and crying so much he offered to pay for his medical bills and it just so happens they took some cameras along when Baxter paid a visit to see his own doctor, Dr Salmons. Brandon’s face is covered by bandages and the doc suggests that they could give him skin grafts to treat the burns. He thinks they could use some skin from the top of his head for his nose, but they’ll have to take some skin from his backside for the rest of his face. That tickled Jerry and Dave! ‘The King’ is in a good mood now and says this reminds him of the good old days where he would wrestle one, two, even three matches on the same show and would like to do that again because there are a couple of guys that he has some issues with. First of all he still has unfinished business with Slash and once he’s through with him, thinks he can have an MCW title match with the new champion, Steve Bradley. Dave likes the idea of that, when the two of them get interrupted by the Spellbinder. Things seem pretty cordial between he and Lawler now, but says how last week he was beating the MCW champion from pillar to post, and while he doesn’t care what ‘the King’ does to Slash, thinks that he should get the first title shot at Steve Bradley. Commissioner Dundee, still trying to ‘raise the roof’ is out to join the fun. ‘The Superstar’ says that when Lawler had the belt he made all the rules around here, not anymore though as there is a new sheriff in town! Instead he thinks they should have a tag match where Lawler and Binder will team up together to take on Slash and Bradley. ‘The King’ is a bit weary of teaming with Spellbinder as it wasn’t too long ago they were jumping each other from behind. Dundee tells him that he should be used to that though as they’ve been jumping each other from behind for the past twenty years! He adds a further stipulation in, that if one of them pins Steve Bradley, then they win his MCW title. First appearance of Victoria who’s accompanying Bradley to ringside. The MCW champ opens aggressively, repeatedly kicking Spellbinder in the mid-section. He whips him to the corner but there’s no-one home on the charge and Binder with a release overhead belly to belly. Scoop powerslam for two and Bradley tags out to see what his partner can do. Spellbinder reverses the Irish whip and a great gorilla press where he just drops Slash chest first to the mat. ‘The King’ goes to town on Slash, looking to get a bit of payback for when he attacked him with the tyre iron last week. After ramming his head into the turnbuckle he’s happy to let him tag out to Bradley as he fancies getting his hands on that MCW title of his. Lawler with a ‘stunner’, but Bradley is able to get a foot over the bottom rope to stop the count. Side headlock and he shoots ‘the King’ into the ref, KO’ing him for the grossly overdone Memphis ref bump. With the official down ‘the Triad’ (Seven and Headbanger Thrasher) attack Binder on the apron and drag him to the back, allowing Bradley and Slash to double team ‘the King’. Bradley telegraphs a backdrop and Lawler sets him for the piledriver when Slash is in with a clothesline to quickly put a stop to that. As ‘the King’ finally looks to have gained the upper hand on the two of them, out runs Brandon Baxter, face all bandaged, who nails Lawler in the back with a blow torch for the DQ. Bradley and Slash then hold him as Baxter plans to burn him with the torch for some retribution of his own. The Kat tries to help ‘the King’ but Baxter tosses her aside and The Dupps arrive just in time to run them off. I liked how they worked this to have a legitimate reason for Lawler and Spellbinder to team together as, on initially seeing the match listed, did think it was a bit quick after everything that had happened between them. Don’t know if it was getting to work opposite Bradley but this was probably the best Binder has looked all year. A quick note for Victoria who showed plenty of energy and emotion at ringside, reacting to what was happening on the inside and not just standing there doing nothing. The Baxter involvement at the end was expected, although I half thought we might get someone with a bandaged face pretending to be him jumping ‘the King’, and then the real Brandon would attack Lawler from the other direction and there wouldn’t be a scratch on him!

November 2000 CZW 1. Trent Acid & Nick Gage vs Johnny Kashmere & Lobo (Jersey Rulz 11/11) 2. Johnny Kashmere vs Nick Gage (Jersey Rulz 11/11) 3. Nick Mondo vs Ric Blade (Jersey Rulz 11/11) ECW 1. Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke vs Mikey Whipwreck/Super Crazy & Yoshihiro Tajiri (November to Remember 11/5) 2. Steve Corino vs Jerry Lynn (Hardcore TV 11/25) 3. Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Christian York & Joey Matthews (Hardcore TV 11/5) 4. Steve Corino & New Jack vs Rhino & Justin Credible (Hardcore TV 11/5) 5. Steve Corino vs Sandman (Hardcore TV 11/25) 6. Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs Christian York & Joey Matthews (November to Remember 11/5) 7. Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible vs Steve Corino vs Sandman (Double Jeopardy) (November to Remember 11/5) 8. Spike Dudley vs Chris Hamrick (Hardcore TV 11/5) Indies 1. Da Hit Squad vs Bad Crew (Dog Collar) (EWF 11/10) 2. Ian Rotten vs Dino Bambino (MAW 11/22) 3. CM Punk vs Adam Pearce (MAW 11/22) 4. Backseat Boyz vs Bad Crew (Ladder) (EWF 11/25) 5. Samoa Joe vs Vic Grimes vs Cincinnati Red (Hardcore) (UPW 11/8) 6. Chris Hero vs Hy-Zaya (ACW 11/17) 7. Ric Blade vs Nicky Benz (EWF 11/25) 8. Reckless Youth vs Christopher Daniels (ECWA Battle at the Bob 11/25) 9. Jodie Fleisch vs Jonny Storm (WAW 11/11) 10. Al Jackson vs Action Jackson (Cage) (NWA Southwest 11/25) 11. Beckie the Farmer’s Daughter vs Thug (WOW 11/11) 12. CM Punk vs Adam Pearce (ACW 11/17) 13. Christian York & Joey Matthews vs Earl the Pearl & Rich Myers (MCW Maryland 11/18) 14. Low Ki vs Scoot Andrews (ECWA Battle at the Bob 11/25) 15. Yasu Urano vs Suzuki (IWA-PR Manati, PR 11/24) 16. HIROKI vs Yasu Urano (IWA-PR Night of the Champions 11/25) 17. Pain vs Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Ricky Banderas vs TNT (IWA-PR Bruiser Brody Memorial 11/23) 18. Mitch Page vs Madman Pondo (Staple Gun Death) (11/17) 19. Adam Flash & Danny Rose & Jake Daniels vs Mike Quackenbush & Don Montoya & Dino Divine (War Games) (FWA 11/18) 20. Jungle Grrrl vs Bronco Billie (WOW 11/11) 21. Steve Bradley vs Simon Diamond vs Inferno (ECWA Battle at the Bob 11/25) 22. Mideon vs Paparazzi (IWA PR Bruiser Brody Memorial 11/23) 23. Yoshihiro Tajiri & Chicky Starr vs Steve Corino & Miguel Perez Jr (Hardcore Death) (IWA-PR Manati, PR 11/24) 24. TNT vs Heriberto Lopez’s Bodyguards (IWA-PR Manati, PR 11/24) 25. Chris Hero vs Adam Pearce vs Suicide Kid (ACW 11/17) 26. Hardcore Elimination Match (IWA-PR Night of Champions 11/25) 27. Asian Invasion (Jade & Lotus) vs Caged Heat (Delta Lotta Pain & Loca) (WOW 11/18) 28. TNT vs Heriberto Lopez (IWA-PR Manati, PR 11/24) NR - Beau James & K.C. Thunder vs John Noble & Eddie Browning (Tennessee Street Fight) (SSW 11/00) NR - Dusty Rhodes vs Luther Biggs vs Liberty McCall (TCW 11/22) NR - Carly Colon vs Curt Hennig (WWC 11/25) JAPW 1. Low Ki vs Xavier (Battle in Bayonne 11/17) 2. Homicide vs Jay Lover (Barbed Wire Singapore Cane Falls Count Anywhere) (South Philly Invasion 11/18) 3. Trent Acid vs Nick Berk vs Ric Blade (Ladder) (South Philly Invasion 11/18) 4. Don Montoya & Homicide vs Da Hit Squad (Battle in Bayonne 11/17) 5. Sabu vs Axl Rotten (South Philly Invasion 11/18) MCW 1. American Dragon & Spanky vs Rodney & Pete Gas (11/18) 2. Steve Bradley vs K-Krush (11/18) 3. Steve Bradley vs Shooter Schultz (11/25) 4. Jerry Lawler vs Tazz (11/4) 5. Rodney & Pete Gas vs American Dragon & Spanky (11/25) NR - Lance Cade vs Tracey Smothers (11/11) MPPW 1. Derrick King vs Spanky (11/18) 2. Spellbinder vs Tracey Smothers (11/25) 3. Jerry Lawler & Spellbinder vs Steve Bradley & Slash (11/18) 4. American Dragon & Spanky & Lance Cade & Shooter Schultz vs Bulldog Raines & Blade Boudreaux & Alan Steel & Khan (11/11) 5. Joey Abs vs Slash (11/11) 6. Jerry Lawler vs Slash (11/25) NWA Wildside 1. Bad Attitude (Rick Michaels & David Young) vs Boogaloo Crew (J.C. Dazz & Scottie Wrenn) (Fan Lumberjack Strap) (Athens, GA 11/1) 2. A.J. Styles & Onyx vs Air Paris & Mark E. Mark (Athens, GA 11/1) 3. Adam Jacobs vs Air Paris (TV 11/11) OVW 1. Rob Conway vs Nick Dinsmore (11/4) 2. Nick Dinsmore vs Damaja (11/18) 3. Rob Conway & Mr Black vs Brock Lesnar & Shelton Benjamin (11/25) 4. Big Show & Nick Dinsmore vs Mark Henry & Robbie D (11/25) 5. Big Show vs Leviathan (11/11) WCW 1. Rey Mysterio Jr & Billy Kidman vs Alex Wright & Disco Inferno (Thunder 11/1) 2. Booker T vs Scott Steiner (Straight Jacket Steel Cage) (Mayhem 11/26) 3. Booker T vs Mike Awesome (Thunder 11/8) 4. 3 Count vs Evan Karagias & Jamie Noble vs Jung Dragons (Mayhem 11/26) 5. Booker T vs Lance Storm (Thunder 11/15) 6. 3 Count vs Jung Dragons (Thunder 11/1) 7. Chuck Palumbo & Shawn Stasiak vs DDP & Kevin Nash (Mayhem 11/26) 8. Jung Dragons vs Lance Storm & Elix Skipper (Thunder 11/29) 9. Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire vs 3 Count (Shannon Moore & Shane Helms) vs Jung Dragons (Kaz Hayashi & Yang) (Nitro 11/6) 10. Crowbar vs Reno (Hardcore) (Thunder 11/8) 11. Scott Steiner vs Buff Bagwell (Thunder 11/29) 12. Jeff Jarrett vs Rey Mysterio Jr (Nitro 11/27) 13. Jamie Noble vs Yang (Nitro 11/20) 14. Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner vs Sting & Buff Bagwell (Nitro 11/6) 15. DDP vs Shawn Stasiak (Lumberjack) (Thunder 11/22) 16. Kevin Nash & DDP vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire (Nitro 11/27) 17. Shannon Moore vs Evan Karagias vs Yang (Thunder 11/22) 18. Sting vs Scott Steiner (Thunder 11/15) 19. Rey Mysterio Jr & Billy Kidman & Konan vs Ron & Don Harris & Jeff Jarrett (Thunder 11/29) 20. Bill Goldberg vs Lex Luger vs Bam Bam Bigelow (Thunder 11/8) 21. Bill Goldberg vs Alex Wright & Disco Inferno (Handicap) (Nitro 11/13) 22. Bill Goldberg vs Reno (Nitro 11/27) 23. Bill Goldberg vs Bam Bam Bigelow (Nitro 11/6) 24. Rey Mysterio Jr vs Billy Kidman vs Lt. Loco vs Crpl. Cajun vs Kwee Wee vs Elix Skipper (Thunder 11/15) 25. Crowbar vs Bam Bam Bigelow (Hardcore) (Thunder 11/15) 26. Bill Goldberg vs Kwee Wee (Nitro 11/20) 27. Bill Goldberg vs Lex Luger (Mayhem 11/26) 28. Booker T vs Kevin Nash (Nitro 11/6) 29. Booker T vs Lex Luger (Nitro 11/20) 30. Bam Bam Bigelow & Reno vs Mike Awesome & Crowbar (Hardcore) (Thunder 11/22) 31. Bill Goldberg vs Buff Bagwell (Thunder 11/15) 32. Bill Goldberg vs Mike Sanders (Nitro 11/20)

October 2000 APW 1. West Side Playaz 2000 vs Shane & Shannon Ballard (Westside Country 10/14) 2. West Side Playaz 2000 vs Tony Jones & Dalip Singh (Changing of the Guard 10/7) 3. Dalip Singh vs Miyaki Frantz (Westside Country 10/14) ECW 1. Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke vs Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri (Anarchy Rulz 10/1) 2. Kid Kash vs E.Z. Money (Anarchy Rulz 10/1) 3. Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible (Anarchy Rulz 10/1) 4. Jerry Lynn vs Steve Corino vs C.W. Anderson (Hardcore TV 10/22) 5. Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke vs Roadkill & Danny Doring (Hardcore TV 10/1) 6. Kid Kash vs E.Z. Money (Hardcore TV 10/29) 7. Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke vs Roadkill & Danny Doring (Hardcore TV 10/15) 8. Steve Corino vs C.W. Anderson (Anarchy Rulz 10/1) 9. Roadkill & Danny Doring vs Christian York & Joey Matthews (Anarchy Rulz 10/1) 10. Steve Corino vs C.W. Anderson (Hardcore TV 10/29) 11. Rob Van Dam vs Rhino (Anarchy Rulz 10/1) 12. Simon Diamond & Chris Chetti vs Christian York & Joey Matthews (Hardcore TV 10/15) 13. Mikey Whipwreck vs Psicosis (Hardcore TV 10/1) 14. Joel Gertner vs Cyrus (Anarchy Rulz 10/1) 15. Rob Van Dam vs E.Z. Money (Hardcore TV 10/22) NR - Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Balls Mahoney (Hardcore TV 10/22) Indies 1. Backseat Boyz vs Bad Crew (Ladder) (EWF Caged Terror 3 10/27) 2. Wifebeater vs Madman Pondo vs Nick Gage (No Ropes Barbed Wire) (CZW Rules Were Made To Be Broken 10/7) 3. Low Ki vs Reckless Youth (JCW Battle at Becton 10/20) 4/ Reckless Youth vs Scoot Andrews (ECWA 10/21) 5. Russ & Charlie Haas & Inferno vs Cheetah Master & Ty Street & J.J. the Ring Crew Guy (ECWA 10/21) 6. Ric Blade vs Nicky Benz (EWF Caged Terror 3 10/27) 7. Mike Quackenbush vs Reckless Youth vs Don Montoya (FNW Return of the Monster 10/25) 8. Justin Richards vs Paul Travell (FWA No Surprises II 10/29) 9. Steve Corino & Rapid Fire Maldonado vs Dylan Knight & J.D. Powers (IWA-CW 10/19) 10. Chris Hamrick vs Kid Kash (Oak Hill, WV 10/31) 11. Juventud Guerrera & Shan Hill vs Super Crazy & Paparazzi (IWA-PR Juana Diaz, PR 10/26) 12. Mike Rapada vs Chris Harris (NWA 52nd Anniversary Show ‘Battle of the Belts 2000’ 10/14) 13. Sex & Pepsi (CM Punk & Jason Kronnan) vs Adam Pearce & Chuck E. Smooth (MAW 10/20) 14. William Regal vs Samoa Joe (UPW 10/11) 15. Mark & Jay Briscoe vs Johnny Maxx & Vincent Goodnite vs Eddie Valentine & Mozart Fontaine vs Patch & Glenn Osbourne (Elimination) (ECWA 10/21) 16. Chicky Starr vs Vyzago (IWA-PR Juana Diaz, PR 10/26) 17. Christopher Daniels vs Steve Bradley (ECWA 10/21) 18. Tony Kozina vs Weed (ECCW Halloween Hell 10/25) 19. Mike Sullivan vs Barry Horowitz vs ODD (IPW Halloween Hell 10/27) 20. Super Crazy vs Glamour Boy Shane (IWA-PR Heavyweight Title Tournament 10/28) 21. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Juventud Guerrera vs Paparazzi (IWA-PR Yabucoa, PR 10/27) 22. Jodie Fleisch vs Stuart Fury vs Scott Parker (FWA No Surprises II 10/29) 23. Torch vs Disco Fury (ECCW Halloween Hell 10/25) 24. Backseat Boyz vs Nick Berk & Vince Bono (ACW 10/25) 25. Tommy Rich & Doug Gilbert vs Russ & Charlie Haas (JCW 10/20) 26. Da Hit Squad vs Bad Crew (Dog Collar) (FWA 10/21) 27. Super Crazy vs Rastaman (IWA-PR Yabucoa, PR 10/27) 28. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Ricky Banderas (IWA-PR Heavyweight Title Tournament 10/28) 29. Miguel Perez Jr vs Rastaman (IWA-PR Heavyweight Title Tournament 10/28) 30. Chicky Starr vs Vyzago (IWA-PR Yabucoa, PR 10/27) 31. Harley’s Angels (Charlie Davidson & E.Z. Rider) vs Becky the Farmer’s Daughter & Bronco Billie (WOW 10/21) NR - Chicky Starr & Victor the Bodyguard vs El Lobo & Vyzago (IWA-PR Heavyweight Title Tournament 10/28/00) IWA-MS 1. Allister Fear vs 2 Tuff Tony (Fans Bring the Weapons Cactus Death) (King of the Death Matches 2001 - Night Two 10/21) 2. Rollin Hard vs Cash Flo (Four Corners of Pain) (King of the Death Matches 2001 - Night One 10/20) 3. Todd Morton vs Suicide Kid (King of the Death Matches 2001 - Night Two 10/21) 4. Mark Wolf vs Ian Rotten (Barbed Wire Board Bat) (King of the Death Matches 2001 - Night One 10/20) 5. Puppet the Psycho Dwarf vs Playboy Teo (Midget Thumbtacks Death) (King of the Death Matches 2001 - Night One 10/20) 6. Rollin Hard vs Corporal Robinson (Flaming Casket Death) (King of the Death Matches 2001 - Night Two 10/21) 7. Corporal Robinson vs Cash Flo (Lumberjack Light Tube Death) (King of the Death Matches 2001 - Night Two 10/21) MCW 1. American Dragon vs Spanky (10/7) 2. K-Krush vs Tracey Smothers (10/14) 3. Tracey Smothers vs Joey Abs (10/21) 4. Tracey Smothers vs Lance Cade (10/28) 5. Jerry Lawler vs Tazz (10/7) NR - K-Krush vs Jerry Lawler vs Tracey Smothers (10/21) MPPW 1. Derrick King vs Alan Steele vs Bulldog Raines (10/14) 2. Slash & Rob Harlem & Charlie Laird vs Bill Dundee & Brickhouse Brown & Spellbinder (10/28) 3. Derrick King & Alan Steel & Spellbinder vs Koko B. Ware & Charlie Laird & Khan (10/7) 4. Slash vs Bulldog Raines (10/7) 5. Slash vs Brickhouse Brown (10/14) NR - Jerry Lawler vs Brandon Baxter & Derrick King (10/28) NWA Wildside 1. Onyx & Jeff G. Bailey vs Lazz (Handicap) (Fright Night 10/21) 2. A.J. Styles vs Romeo Bliss (TV 10/7) 3. A.J. Styles vs Romeo Bliss (Loser Leaves NWA Wildside) (Fright Night 10/21) 4. Shank vs Terry Knight (Chain) (Fright Night 10/21 5. Jason Cross vs Ricky Noble (TV 10/21) 6. A.J. Styles vs Lazz (NWA 52nd Anniversary Show ‘Battle of the Belts 2000’ 10/14) 7. Adam Jacobs vs Caprice Coleman (TV 10/14) OVW 1. Disciples of Synn (Slash & Damien & Judas) vs Big Show & Flash & B.J. Payne (10/7) 2. Rob Conway & Mr Black vs Nick Dinsmore & Trailer Park Trash (Coal Miner’s Glove) (10/7) WCW 1. Rey Mysterio Jr & Billy Kidman vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire vs Alex Wright & Disco Inferno (Halloween Havoc 10/29) 2. Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire vs Alex Wright & Disco Inferno (Nitro 10/9) 3. Rey Mysterio Jr & Billy Kidman vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire (Nitro 10/30) 4. Elix Skipper vs Rey Mysterio Jr (Nitro 10/9) 5. Scott Steiner vs Booker T vs Mike Awesome (Nitro 10/30) 6. Crowbar vs Vampiro (Nitro 10/23) 7. ‘Countdown to Armageddon’ (Thunder 10/18) 8. Bill Goldberg & Booker T & Sting vs Kronik & Jeff Jarrett (Thunder 10/25) 9. Scott Steiner vs Mike Awesome (Nitro 10/23) 10. Booker T vs Shane Douglas (Nitro 10/16) 11. Scott Steiner vs Rey Mysterio Jr (Thunder 10/11) 12. Booker T & Jeff Jarrett vs Scott Steiner & Sting (Nitro 10/2) 13. Booker T vs Scott Steiner (Halloween Havoc 10/29) 14. Booker T vs Jeff Jarrett (San Francisco 49’ers match) (Nitro 10/2) 15. Bill Goldberg vs Meng (Nitro 10/2) 16. Bill Goldberg vs Kronik (hc) (Halloween Havoc 10/29) 17. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting (Halloween Havoc 10/29) 18. Bill Goldberg vs Shawn Stasiak (Nitro 10/23) 19. Sting & Booker T vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire (Thunder 10/18) 20. Kevin Nash vs Sting (Lumberjack) (Nitro 10/16) 21. Sting vs Scott Steiner (Nitro 10/9) 22. Scott Steiner vs Jung Dragons (Thunder 10/4) LA - Mike Awesome vs Steve Sharpe (Hardcore) (Worldwide 10/8)

It's from the 7/19/86 episode of World Championship Wrestling, taped in Columbia, SC two days earlier on the 17th

The Mean Street Posse jump the ‘Kliq 2000’ the moment they enter the ring, immediately taking it to them. Dragon ducks a clothesline and nails Rodney with a spin kick to the chest. Shades of the Rock & Roll Express with the double dropkick. Leg lariat to Gas by Spanky followed by an arm drag takedown. Irish whip is reversed and Rodney with a knee to the back of Dragon as he hits the ropes, before a stiff looking lariat from Gas. The MSP proceed to then cut the ring in half and isolate him. Sit out slam, double underhook suplex, face first suplex where they just dump Dragon across the top rope and finally a scoop powerslam, but after all that Dragon is still able to bridge out of the pin. Gas complains to the referee about Spanky, however that’s just a distraction to allow Rodney to get in some illegal shots while he’s otherwise engaged. Rodney ties Dragon in the ‘tree of woe’ and more distraction work as Gas is now choking him from the outside. Snap suplex and Dragon barely kicks out. Rodney looks for the belly to back, but Dragon flips over and flattens him with a roaring elbow. Hot tag to Spanky who takes out all that pent up frustration on Gas. Rodney comes to help out and soon all four men are in the ring. Dragon gets tossed through the ropes to the floor and a cool double backbreaker by the Posse. Gas holds Spanky for the ‘High Society’, but Spanky moves out the way and Rodney hits the move on his own partner instead. As Rodney berates him, Dragon with a missile dropkick, Spanky covers Gas and its victory for the ‘Kliq 2000’. Another good tag outing for the Posse after their match against Cade & Smothers at the back end of August. The match had a very similar formula with this time Dragon as the FIP and taking the lengthy beat down as opposed to Smothers in that one. The Posse adopted plenty of old school heel tag team tactics, although there were definite hints of possible dissension between the two with Rodney getting frustrated with Pete on more than one occasion throughout the match. Hitting the finish on his own man couldn’t have helped things either. We’ll have to see if this is the start of something and whether anything else develops.

Wonder what it would have gotten if it happened in New Japan? Yawn....

Sunny, sorry Bobcat is once again back on ring announcing duties. She says how everywhere she went this week people were telling her how good Power Pro Wrestling is now that she’s on it! The most beautiful girl in Memphis is going to be all the men’s dreams and all the women’s nightmares, although the women needn’t worry as she wouldn’t be caught dead with any man from down south! King hammers away on Spanky and whips him into the corner, however he leaps to the middle turnbuckle and comes off with a moonsault bodyblock for an early two count. Headscissors takedown followed by a clothesline that sends DK over the top rope and to the outside. A crazy, reckless looking pescado to the floor by Spanky. He slingshots DK back inside but he lands on his feet and hits a satellite headscissors. Top rope rana for a two. The facebuster is blocked and Spanky with a springboard forearm smash. Another headscissors, although this time DK pancakes him to the mat. Suicideplex and Spanky just about manages to get a shoulder up. Facebuster lands, but they’re too close to the ropes as Spanky gets a foot over the bottom one. He fights off the attempted superplex only to then miss the frog splash. Spanky ducks under a King superkick and hits ‘sliced bread #2’. The frog splash connects this time as he retains the MCW Light Heavyweight title. King shakes Spanky’s hand and passes him the belt, but then clocks him from behind with a chair the moment his back is turned. The ‘Kliq 2000’ eventually run him off, although only after he’s given Spanky a facebuster on the chair. Bobcat moved over to provide some commentary after her ring announcing efforts and she’s equally as brutal as that (which should come as no surprise to anyone if they remember when she guested in MCW). This was a fun, non-stop spotfest with both guys busting out every high risk aerial move in their arsenal. There wasn’t much in the way of psychology (although one great near fall after the facebuster) and the viewer could’ve done with a chance to catch their breath while watching, but this was something different to pretty much everything else we’ve seen from Power Pro all year. A bit messy on occasion too, but entertaining nonetheless.

This is the ‘Final Battle’ from the Jonesboro show on 10/28. Just after he makes his entrance ‘the King’ spots members of Power Pro Wrestling making their way to the front row, having taken up Kevin Kelly’s open invitation from earlier that day. The Power Pro crew is Randy Hales, Brandon Baxter, Derrick King, Bulldog Raines, Charlie Laird and Spellbinder (who Lawler calls Del Rios). ‘The King’ warns them that if they’ve got any intention of interfering in this match that there is only six of them, while there is about twenty WWF and MCW guys in the back. So if they do get in the ring he promises that they won’t get out. He tells them that the best they can do is stand there, watch and maybe they’ll learn something! Kelly references how the Power Pro wrestler’s arrival reminds him of how ECW invaded an episode of Monday Night Raw back in 1997. A lot punches and not much else, until ‘the King’ catches Tazz with a dropkick while he has his back to him. Bodyslam, Lawler drops an elbow although that only gets a one count. Piledriver but Tazz is back to his feet before ‘the King’, completely no selling the move. Tazz stomps and pounds away on him until he pulls down the strap, which for the first time in 2000 get the same response from the fans as it used to in the 80s! A series of left jabs followed by a right haymaker. As Lawler grabs a side headlock and is about to drill Tazz with some short punches to the head, he shoots him off and into the referee. Tazz then CLIMBS TO THE TOP TURNBUCKLE misses a senton splash and ‘the King’ makes the cover for the win. The Power Pro wrestlers jump Lawler and put the boots to him until the locker room empties and they get out of there. Before leaving Tazz claims that they can call this the ‘final confrontation’ all they want but this isn’t over yet! A funny little match. This only went around five minutes, so not stalling or time wasting like previously, but outside the two main spots (the no sold piledriver and the finish), all they really did was punch one another. The commentators claimed the piledriver had no effect because Tazz doesn’t have a neck, but I don’t think it’s something I would have done, while the finish, with Tazz coming off the top rope for the first time ever, was flat out weird. If this was taking place in February or March, as opposed to November, I could understand those spots with them wanting to keep Tazz looking strong, but I’m sure I’ve heard them say he is already on commentary duties in the WWF so it’s not like Lawler is facing a top/upper carder here. Just strange.

Bobcat is the guest ring announcer here, but before she introduces the participants cuts a brief promo saying that she is what’s been missing from Power Pro Wrestling. She is here to make all the men’s fantasies and desires come true, while being a role model for all the women! Onto the match and a reverse atomic drop followed by a big powerslam by Abs for a two. Slash backs off, but when Joey charges, he backdrops him over the top rope to the arena floor. Fortunately Abs lands on his feet and then trips Slash from the outside. Shoulder tackle off the top, however Slash gets the knees up when he goes for the splash out of the corner. Joey doesn’t have a good success rate when it comes to hitting that one! Alleycopter by Slash. A pair of clotheslines, but Abs ducks the third and catches Slash with a release German suplex. Backdrop and a Michinoku Driver (which Corey struggles to pronounce) as Slash kicks out of the cover. ‘Absolution’, this looks like it’s it when Brandon Baxter is in the ring and stomps on Abs to break the count. He chases after Brandon, and eventually back into the ring, but the distraction allows Slash to attack him from behind. Not sure what the ref’s playing at as he’s just letting Baxter remain in there with no attempt whatsoever to try and get him out. DDT on Abs, at which point Jerry Lawler runs out, drills Slash and throws fire at Baxter. Great response to ‘the King’ from the fans in the studio as he checks on Abs while Slash and Baxter scarper. Lawler’s pants and shirt are all torn and Dave Brown questions him on what happened? ‘The King’ says how he was leaving his house when he saw Brandon Baxter stood on the side of the road waving him down like he had car trouble or something. He stopped, backed up, didn’t see a flat tyre but did see Slash jump him from behind with a tyre iron. He tells them that it will take more than those two punks to put him out of business before promising that this isn’t over in the slightest. Bobcat is still treading water as they look to try and find a suitable role for her. She is channelling a bit of 1997 Sunny here, although clearly isn’t cut out for ring announcing (along with most things it would seem!). I expected more from these two as the match just seemed to chug along until the arrival of Lawler. The ref letting Baxter do what he wanted and remain in the ring without even a hint that he was going to DQ Slash made zero sense.

Highlights of another match from the big Jonesboro show on 10/28. Fabulous Rocker (now going by his real name of Chris Rocker) is again the referee which kinda makes you wonder what the MCW officials are playing at considering what happened last time! Rocker gets involved early; tripping Cade up on a criss cross spot, at which point ‘Sexy Boy’ plays to an almighty pop and out walks Shawn Michaels. Although not shown here, before the match got underway Rocker had ejected the rest of the ‘Kliq 2000’ from ringside because they didn’t have a manager’s license. As luck would have it, HBK says that on his way to Jonesboro he stopped off at the Manager’s License store and picked one of those manager’s licenses up! He’s therefore going to take a seat at ringside himself and make sure that Rocker calls this right down the middle. Cade and Smothers have a great little technical wrestling exchange ending with Tracey complaining that Lance pulled his hair and grabbed his tights. It’s a different matter altogether now that HBK has got his eye on him though, as Rocker says that he didn’t see anything and after Smothers shoves him, gives him a shove back. Tracey sucks chant that he starts dancing along to! After a top rope lariat, Rocker stops his count at two clutching his shoulder. Lance confronts him, but with his back turned to his opponent, low blow by Tracey. Rocker goes to give him another superkick, however this time Cade ducks under it and Michaels nail’s Rocker with a cracker of his own. Lance with a chokeslam followed by a leg drop off the top and, with Rocker still KO’d, Shawn Michaels counts the three. The other members of the Kliq are back out and celebrate with Cade before they all thank HBK. No rating from me on this one due to the clipping, but I liked what we saw. The trading of holds at the start was great and we also saw the same intensity on Cade’s comeback (admittedly the exact same stuff) as on the TV match from 10/28 before the chokeslam/leg drop finish. I imagine the unedited version would be pretty good.

Brandon Baxter has returned and Dave Brown appears to be gloating over the fact that he promised he’d have Tazz here but he’s nowhere to be seen. When Baxter queries does that mean therefore that he doesn’t trust him and wouldn’t believe a word he says, Dave replies “pretty much!” He responds that he’s about to prove him as a fool for the very first time on Channel 5 as, after giving him the big build up, to everyone’s surprise Tazz exits out of a limo in the car park and heads into the building to join them. Tazz tells Baxter that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, doesn’t know him, doesn’t need to know him and he’s here for one reason and it isn’t because of him, it’s because of Jerry ‘the King’ Lawler. He’s pissed that he has to spend his day off in Memphis and isn’t prepared to wait for tonight in Arkansas, he wants Lawler right this second so he can choke him out in the studio. Dave explains that ‘the King’ isn’t here yet, but they’ve got him on the phone (that’s lucky!). They’re unable to patch him through on air so Dave relays what he’s got to say back to Tazz. It turns out that he’s watching the show at home and as he only lives about ten miles away, is going to get into his car, head down to the studio and accepts Tazz’s challenge, so they won’t have to wait until Jonesboro. Tazz appears to have a change of heart on hearing that, claiming he’s got a public appearance at midday, can’t afford to hang around and better get going. ‘The King’ arrives with MCW representative Kevin Kelly to a great response from the fans in the studio. Dave tells Lawler that Tazz is no longer here as the moment he heard that he was on his way, upped and left, saying that he had to be at an autograph session. Lawler is miffed but Kelly, in his WWF office roll, thinks its better that nothing happens here and they can do it on the big card tonight (which he plugs about three separate times!). Brandon Baxter is back out and he would hate for Jerry Lawler to get in his car, to waste his time, to waste his gas, to come to TV5 and do nothing. He says how ‘the King’ has been knocking he and Derrick King saying that they’re too small to be wrestlers, so why don’t they team up and wrestle him here today? Lawler plugs his celebrity softball game that he’s taking part in this afternoon, but will take a couple of minutes, because it shouldn’t take more than that, and will take care of the two jerks that were part of the primary reason he left Power Pro Wrestling in the first place. He hands his valuables to Kevin Kelly to look after and then steps into the ring. The match goes all of twenty five seconds, although during which time Lawler hits a ‘stunner’ on both, before he’s jumped from behind by Tazz and choked unconscious. Tazz cackles maniacally and says that Lawler has become just another victim and telling everyone to be at Jonesboro tonight, while Kelly talks about it being a set up all along. After a commercial break Randy Hales joins Corey and mentions how he’s deliberately been keeping himself off screen recently, but came out here today as he has a lot to talk about. Kurt Angle, the new WWF champion, has sent a video tape in directed at Hales, although doesn’t say much bar that when he was in Power Pro Randy Hales used him in opening card matches and now he’s in main events on top of the World Wrestling Federation. Hales claims that it sounds like he’s been brainwashed by Jerry Lawler and what he’s saying isn’t true at all; he went undefeated for three months in Power Pro, was the Heavyweight champion and consistently wrestled in main events all across their region. He goes on to say that the only reason Jerry Lawler is back is because Dave and Corey thought it would be good for their TV show, but he swerved them by coming out and knocking the company that he works his butt off 24 hours a day for. Everything has gotten out of control and it needs to stop! Randy invites Kevin Kelly out, but he’s still hot about everything that has gone on today and blames Hales’ men (Baxter and DK) for what happened to Lawler and wants “the floundering owner and president of Power Pro Wrestling” to try and get some control of those men he calls ‘athletes’. Hales removes his jacket ready for a dust up as Corey tells him to keep his cool. He claims that no-one knew what MCW was until they were on his TV and they gave them the credibility, but things are getting crazy and makes them an open challenge from now on that they can settle it in the ring, no more sneaking up from behind. They’re running low on time, but Kelly gets in one last dig saying that the only reason Dave and Corey called ‘the King’ was because his promotion was on life support and he had put it in a bad spot. Kelly returns the offer and makes the same open door challenge to Power Pro Wrestling, inviting them to the Jonesboro show tonight, and the two continue to go at it as the show goes off the air. Generally real good stuff here. The Tazz angle was worked perfectly and was a much more effective way of building ‘the Final Battle’ in Jonesboro than the 10/7 TV match he had with Lawler. It also reminded me of one of those classic Memphis angles where Lawler wouldn’t be in the studio, but Lance would have no trouble in reaching him on the phone as they could continue it as if he was! He may have been off television for several months but Randy Hales remains one awkward on screen performer and Kevin Kelly looked to be having far too much fun knocking his promotion.

The Fabulous Rocker is the referee for this bout, so MCW isn’t exclusively WWF contracted talent just yet. Smothers walks around ringside and beckons Cade to meet him on the outside which he’s got no problem in doing. As Lance jumps off the apron though Tracey with a shot to the mid-section. Cade blocks having his head rammed into the ring post and throws Smothers shoulder first into it. Tracey then rolls into the ring having had enough of fighting on the floor. Shoulder tackle by Lance and he doesn’t even bother with a cover, preferring to dish out a bit of ground and pound on his opponent instead. Flying back elbow, but Smothers is able to land some of those martial arts strikes before tossing Cade through the ropes to the floor. Lariat off the top back into the ring. Smothers with a back kick low blow out of the view of the Rocker as Kevin Kelly bemoans the rookie being woefully out of position. He starts to unload with some stiff chops but Lance is eventually able to reverse position and dish out some of his own. Running forearm smash and a further knife edge chop lifts Tracey off his feet. Out of nowhere though Rocker superkicks Cade, Tracey with the cover, and Rocker fast counts the fall as the two of them leave together. Cade actually showed a fair bit of fire and intensity here firstly with the ‘ground and pound’, then on his comeback. Smothers continues his run of fun matches as he works with a host of different WWF developmental talent. Not too sure what he can get out of an alliance with the Fabulous Rocker mind!

Abs tries to grab Tracey before the match has even begun, but Smothers hops out of the ring to the floor where he calls for a time-out! Yup, before the match has even gotten underway! A pair of arm drags and Tracey complains of an illegal hook of the arm, a yank of the trunks and a pull of the hair all at the same time! Drop down, big shoulder tackle and he still isn’t happy, moaning about something else to the referee. Joey drops him with a lariat but Smothers gets the knees up when he goes for the splash out of the corner. David Jett talks about how Tracey impressed him last week, and that he was one of the star players when MCW invaded MPPW. Sunset flip by Abs, however he can’t take Tracey over and Smothers gives him a double thrust to the throat. He then sits on his chest, flexes the guns, but now Abs does take him over, belatedly completing the sunset flip and getting a two count. Heel kick to the back of the head by Tracey for another two. The DDT attempt is blocked as Joey lifts Smothers up and drops him chest first to the mat. Huge powerslam followed by a gorilla press slam. Low blow by Tracey, when out runs all four members of the ‘Kliq 2000’. Shooter Schultz is up on the apron distracting the referee allowing Lance Cade to blast Smothers over the head with a steel chair. ‘Absolution’ for the win as the students revel in Tracey’s loss on the outside. This period of Tracey Smothers, pretty much ever since the ‘Texas & Tennessee’ tag team is my favourite stuff of his for the year. He’s just very fun and entertaining to watch here. A bit goofy with the FBI dancing, but old school heel tactics and no matter what the size of the crowd (and this one isn’t the biggest) always manages to get a reaction out of them with his antics.

The final few minutes of a house show match from the 10/14 Shelby County show where, just like they’d promised on that morning’s TV, the Power Pro crew made their presence felt. Led by Spellbinder, Derrick King, Koko B. Ware, Khan, Brandon Baxter, Brickhouse Brown and Charlie Laird arrive through the back of the building and attack the three of them with weapons while Randy Hales watches on from ringside. The beating only goes on for about thirty seconds before the locker room empties and the Power Pro guys high tail it out of there. As Lawler looks on trying to work out what just happened, Tracey taps him on the shoulder and ‘the King’ backhands him away. Smothers stumbles and Krush is there to capitalise with a roll up to retain the MCW title. A Tazz promo for next week’s ‘Final Battle’ follows and he’s not happy that he, a WWF superstar, an MTV megastar, has to belittle himself by coming to a scumbag state like Arkansas just to kick Jerry Lawler’s ass! He says that he’s not only going to kick his ass and end his career in this final confrontation, but he’s also going to tear his f*cking head off (bleeped naturally!).

Spanky introduces the future of this industry, the ‘Kliq 2000’, to which Dave Brown quips “if that’s the future of wrestling I’m worried about the future!” He says that they’ve spoken to Sir Willy Dundee, Australia’s favourite leprechaun, and with him now running things wondered if there are any Power Pro wrestlers man enough to take on the Kliq, and if so, to send them out. C.B. Wyatt is out first, followed by Khan and he is his new business adviser. Moments later out comes Bulldog Raines, Blade Boudreaux and Alan Steel, and although they don’t all get along, it’s pushed as Power Pro uniting against MCW. Just as the match begins Derrick King joins Dave and Corey and takes exception to Spanky’s comments about being the best light heavyweight in Memphis. Glorious high impact German suplex by Schultz where he dumps Steel right on his head. Butterfly suplex and ‘All That’ kicks out of the cover. A lovely sunset flip out of the corner by Steel on Spanky for a two. He almost loses his balance on the middle turnbuckle, but manages to keep his footing and connect with that springboard back elbow. Dragon with a snap suplex, however Steel moves out the way of the top rope elbow and Danielson crashes to the mat. Hot tag to Raines who drops Spanky with a big shoulder block. The Kliq are in to (just about) break up the cover and the match breaks down with everyone going at it with each other. After Khan tosses Cade to the floor, Tracey Smothers jumps Lance as security does their best to try and separate them. Meanwhile inside Spanky hits a frog splash on Bulldog, but no referee as he’s also trying to deal with Smothers and Cade. DK leaves the commentary desk and nails Spanky with his own title belt, that modified ‘Blue Thunder Driver’ by Raines and it’s one in the win column for Power Pro Wrestling. Not the best showcase for the MCW guys as they didn’t really get much of a chance to shine, although I thought all looked fine in their brief spots, with Spanky and Schultz (who I like an awful lot) standing out above the other two. Nice to see the Cade/Smothers feud make it’s way across to Power Pro as a way to interlink the two Memphis shows, and I really like the sound of a Derrick King/Spanky match that has to be on the cards. Alan Steel is another, like DK, who should benefit from hopefully getting to work some singles matches with the TWA graduates.

Jerry Lawler is on the phone and Dave Brown says although he wasn’t here last week, he’s seen the video tape, has heard the promise he made, but everyone is saying that he’s not coming down here and it’s all a bluff. ‘The King’ responds that the people of Memphis know that he doesn’t make idle threats and unkept promises. He reaffirms that he’s going to be there, will have some of his friends with him and that these guys can expect a nice butt kicking! Triple threat match where the winner gets a shot at the TV title later today. King with a neckbreaker on Bulldog, he then counters Steel’s slingshot belly to back and hits the neckbreaker on him. Scoop powerslam by Raines and Steel has recovered in time to break up the pin. Headscissors on the big Bulldog, Steel then ducks the King superkick and catches him with a back elbow off the middle ‘T-Bone suplex’ by Raines on ‘All That’ and a sidewalk slam on DK. Steel avoids a Bulldog splash, however as he grabs a side headlock, Raines shoots him off into the referee. Well it wouldn’t be a Power Pro match without an unnecessary ref bump! Raines blocks the spinning bulldog and lands a modified ‘Blue Thunder Driver’. The ref is still down and as he covers Steel, King nails him over the head with his boot that he’d just taken off. DK covers Raines, but he’s unaware that Steel landed on the apron after he’d thrown him over the top rope and what he thought was to the outside. Leg drop off the top to the back of the head by ‘All That’ and the official has come around in time to count the fall. Brandon Baxter is freaking out in the dressing room with Slash and the Regulators over what Lawler said, although Slash is convinced that he’s bluffing and they’ve got nothing to worry about (“who is he going to call? His son?”). We return from a commercial break and Dave says how before they went for the break they heard Jerry Lawler had arrived and he’s got a bunch of folks with him, which is what he feared. General Koko, Charlie Laird and Khan are trying to hold the door shut but get overpowered by the sheer number of guys that ‘the King’ has bought with him. Lawler leads the way beating the three of them back and I can see Headbanger Thrasher, the Mean Street Posse, Joey Abs, The Dupps and Tracey Smothers with him. Kevin Kelly is even here and although he apologises to Dave and Corey, says that ‘they’ wanted it, so they’re going to get it! ‘The King’ heads to the dressing room to see who else he can find and here’s the rest of the MCW roster (K-Krush, American Dragon, Spanky, Scott Vick, Lance Cade and Shooter Schultz). They attack the likes of Derrick King, the Regulators and Slick Rick before Lawler runs into Bill Dundee who gives up where Brandon Baxter is hiding. It turns out he’s in ‘the King’s’ old dressing room and Lawler finds him cowering under a table in there. Slash is also in the dressing room and the MCW guys drag them both to the ring as they continue to run rough shot over Power Pro Wrestling. Dave talks about them being invaded by the WWF as Kevin Kelly tells them that it’s not going to stop here today. Seven shows up and he’s only too happy to join in the beat down. A couple of referees are in the ring trying to break things up but are having no luck whatsoever. Kelly waffles Slick Rick with a chair as ‘the King’ goes over to speak with Dave and Corey. Lawler insists that Brandon Baxter, Derrick King, Slash and all the Power Pro wrestlers bought this on themselves, while Dave tells him that this is not the way to do things and implores him to get them to stop. ‘The King’ goes on to say that the people here can see what the Power Pro wrestlers are worth, but if they want to see some ‘wrestlers’ like he, Tazz, Raven and Shawn Michaels, they can come to Jonesboro on 10/28 (“it won’t be any of your Power Pro crap!”), before going on to plug tonight’s MCW show at the Shelby County building. K-Krush joins Lawler and wonders where that steroid freak is? Just in case anyone was in two minds about whom he meant Corey drops that he’s talking about the Spellbinder. Lawler mocks that their own champion didn’t even have the nerve to show up and support them. The MCW guys clear the ring and start an “MCW” chant, which the fans in the studio are quick to join in with, seemingly more pro the invaders as opposed to the home team. After another commercial break order has been restored, with the MCW wrestlers now in the car park at TV5 outside of the studio and being held back by security. The Power Pro guys are back out and Dave Brown holds them responsible as they’re the ones who jumped Jerry Lawler last week and now everything is in disarray. Brandon Baxter promises to show MCW how an invasion is done tonight at Shelby County, while General Koko tells Lawler that the war has just started and he should’ve never done what he did. Baxter then says that there is one person missing, and this needs to be “all for one and one for all”. They need and they want the Spellbinder, and they need him to fight for this company. Binder walks out and although he doesn’t like any of them, agrees to join them in the war on MCW as this is the house that Power Pro built and Jerry Lawler should never have done what he did. A fun fast paced three way kicks us off with Bulldog’s strength and power moves a stark contrast to the speed and agility of King and Steel. The MCW invasion angle that follows is awesome! Despite Slash’s doubts, Lawler had plenty of friends and arrived in force to wreak havoc over Power Pro Wrestling. A wild and chaotic scene as the MCW guys ran amok in the studio and backstage grabbing and attacking anyone from Power Pro they could find. I liked how there was the respect between Lawler and Dundee that they didn’t go after ‘the Superstar’ and how, in a similar show of respect, Kevin Kelly was apologetic to Dave and Corey. Interesting to note that the only people used in the invasion were WWF contracted guys, none of your Fabulous Rocker, Al K. Holic, Ronnie James types, whilst I also didn’t spot Reckless Youth amongst their number which could possibly mean that his days are numbered. Good promos from Baxter and Koko at the end as Power Pro regroups, gets the Spellbinder on side and promises revenge.