GSR

Despite not being here last week, Dave Brown guarantees that we haven’t heard the last about what happened to Jerry Lawler. A smug Brandon Baxter and Slash join Corey, and Baxter talks about how in everyone’s life there’s one moment that can be defined as the single most defining moment. Last week he had that moment, where, in the building that Jerry Lawler made famous, he stood face to face with him, told him that they didn’t want him here and threw him out like the garbage that he is. Corey mentions how Brandon looks a little nervous and he wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. While he doesn’t know anything, Lawler told them last week that if they jumped him he’d be back this, and one thing about ‘the King’ is that he’s a man of his word. Slash says how in 1997 Vince McMahon fired a man by the name of Wolfie D, and even though he claims different, he knows Jerry Lawler was behind it. Ever since that day he’s waited and waited, and now the time has come where he gets his revenge on Jerry ‘the King’ Lawler. He tells him to bring every friend he’s got, which is probably just his son and that new wife of his, and he’ll be happy to slap them too! This is the finals of the ‘Ultimate Victory’ tournament. Slash pounds Brickhouse down in the corner before a high vertical suplex for a two count. Folding press with his feet on the ropes for added leverage, but again Brickhouse kicks out. Slash tosses him to the floor where he whips him into the commentating desk and then chokes him with some cable. Headbutt to the groin, as Slash insists it was to the inner thigh when the ref questions him. Brickhouse counters the neckbreaker with a belly to back suplex and has found a second wind. Flying tackle takes Slash down, he heads upstairs and hits a diving headbutt off the top. Baxter is up on the apron causing a distraction and Brickhouse flips him into the ring. He’s forgotten all about Slash though who has removed his shin guard and is primed to waffle Brickhouse with it. Brown ducks the shot and quickly schoolboys Slash for the three, winning the ‘Ultimate Victory’ tournament as Corey says he’ll be driving around Memphis on that motorcycle. I’ll bet good money that he doesn’t even sit on that bike outside the studio and at the end of the show it’s returned to the sponsors! Strong promo by Slash at the start of this. This ‘Ultimate Victory’ tournament, which comes across as an anachronism in the first place, splutters to a conclusion and now we can hopefully concentrate on the Power Pro and MCW feud. Considering Slash is going to be right at the heart of that I don’t think I would have put Brickhouse over him here.

Semi final match up in the ‘Ultimate Victory’ tournament. Slash jumps Raines the moment he steps through the ropes and starts to go to town on him. Bulldog reverses the Irish whip and a big back drop. Running lariat in the corner, but he misses the charge and goes crashing chest first into the turnbuckles. Cobra clutch submission by Slash. Bulldog escapes the neckbreaker finisher and takes Slash down with a shoulder tackle that gets him a two. Sidewalk slam and again Slash is able to kick out in time. ‘Blue Thunder Driver’ but this time Brandon Baxter is taking no chances and is in there to break up the pin himself. After a powerslam fails to put his man away Bulldog complains to the referee about the slow count, however while he does, Slash pulls a fork out from behind his shin guard. When Raines goes for a belly to back suplex, he jabs him in the head with it, neckbreaker and Slash moves on to the final where he will face Brickhouse Brown. The big Bulldog actually isn’t that bad of a worker, and is certainly better than you would expect on first look. There’s nothing flashy about him, he’s very ‘meat and potatoes’ but with a simple power based offense that he uses to maximise his strengths.

Tazz backs Lawler into the corner and throws a bunch of clearly pulled rights at him. As he starts laughing in his face, ‘the King’ switches their positions and gives him a lesson in how to throw a convincing looking punch. David Jett says how we’re not going to see much in the way of scientific wrestling here (“this is a street fight just the way Tazz likes it”) right at the moment that Tazz snap mares Lawler. Yup, I often see a snap mare in a street fight! Al K. Holic is still on co-commentary duties and sounds bored shitless with his monotone delivery. We’re back with another lock up and they repeat the opening spot of the match. When Lawler fires back on him, Tazz collects his towel from the corner and they act like this is Terry Funk’s flaming branding iron or something with the way ‘the King’ is retreating from that lethal piece of cloth! After hammering Lawler down to the mat, some real weak distraction spots with Tazz basically telling the ref to “look over there” while he chokes ‘the King’ with his towel. Jett is now claiming that these two are some of the best brawlers that the sport has ever seen! I’ll give him Lawler but Tazz? Come on! Tazz slaps on a rear chinlock as the crowd try to rally behind ‘the King’. More towel choking shenanigans until Lawler snatches it away and gives Tazz a dose of his own medicine. Tazz with a clothesline and he starts to stomp on Lawler, however he pulls stomps as much as he does punches. A trademark style suplex, although you can see he’s a lot gentler on Lawler than he would be with others. Tazz whips ‘the King’ into the corner, but he moves out the way of the charge and pulls down his strap. Lawler misses the fistdrop off the middle and Tazz is back in command. Clothesline, bodyslam, vertical suplex, Tazz makes a cover after them all, yet on each occasion ‘the King’ gets a foot over the bottom rope to break up the count. Frustrated that he’s unable to put Lawler away, he takes those frustrations out on Charlie Miller, attacking him and ultimately getting disqualified for his actions. Poor match with a poor finish. The inconclusive ending to this appears to be building to a future house show match between the two that they’re referring to as ‘the Final Battle’, but I can’t believe too many would be in a rush to buy tickets for that after what they witnessed here. Lots of stalling along with weak ass distraction spots and bad brawling. I don’t think Lawler had a hair out of place by the time this was over which says plenty about the action in its own right.

Reckless is whining like a child about Kevin Kelly booking him in this hari vs hair match. A pair of dropkicks by James and a high hip toss. Lariat off the top followed by a series of left jabs topped off by an almight right that drops Reckless. Youth ducks a clothesline and catches James with a spinning heel kick. Leg drop off the middle for two. Reckless sits on a rear chinlock as James looks to get the crowd behind him however he’s not getting much back from them and a jawbreaker eventually forces the escape. Suplex, Reckless heads upstairs but James avoids the big splash. Spinebuster and Youth only just manages to get his shoulder up before the three. James runs into a back elbow after whipping Reckless into the corner and Youth with a ‘Sicilian slice’. Much to the commentators surprise James kicks out of that. Bulldog by James as the near falls continue. He signals “it’s over”, but Reckless counters the powerbomb with a backdrop, only to backdrop James into the referee who gets taken out. Reckless picks up a steel chair from ringside and is about to nail James over the head with it, when he gets in first with a boot to the mid-section. Youth drop the chair, James with a piledriver onto it and the ref has recovered just at the right time in order to count the three. James starts to shave Reckless’ head with some clippers (not making a very good job of it I may add), when he’s attacked from behind by Seven who destroys him with a kendo stick and leaves him laying after ‘the Redemption’. I don’t think I had ever seen Reckless’ afro so big so there is your outcome before they’ve even laid a finger on each other! For a supposed major stipulation like ‘hair vs hair’, this didn’t have much heat outside the initial “chia pet” chants aimed at Reckless; even when James tried to get them behind him as he was trapped in the rear chinlock they weren’t responding. Strong post-match debut from Seven who has transferred over from Power Pro by the looks of things.

Kevin Kelly talks about how these two are no strangers to each other and every time they meet they raise the bar and do more to try and put the other down. Dragon has an innovative counter to a reverse crossbody, dropping down to one knee so that Spanky lands stomach first on his other. Spinebuster that he transitions to a combination surfboard/Dragon sleeper and Spanky is forced to go to the eyes to escape. Face first suplex where he just dumps Spanky across the top rope. Kevin Sullivan double foot stomp! Dragon claims “it’s over!”, however he’s too slow when climbing upstairs and Spanky with an arm drag off the top. A pair of dropkicks before a big spinning elbow. Bulldog off the top turnbuckle and Dragon kicks out at two. Modified ‘Michinoku Driver’, frog splash but Dragon gets the knees up. He locks on a submission hold that has both David Jett and Kevin Kelly baffled (although is a kinda like a version of a bear hug) and Spanky is forced to give. It’s getting to the stage where I’m starting to run out of things to say when it comes to these two! They continue to pull out innovative stuff and mix things up from match to match, just a good five minute bout.

Koko’s team aren’t paying attention in the slightest and are attacked from behind by the opposition, with Spellbinder going straight for Koko. ‘The General’ doesn’t fare too well at all, and after rolling to the floor orders a rather reluctant Charlie Laird to get in there and take his place. Back elbow off the middle turnbuckle by Steel for two. Double backdrop as he and DK are working some quick tags. Laird tags out to Khan who manages to hit a tilt-a-whirl slam on King, turning the tide in their favour. Powerslam by Laird for a two count, while Koko and Spellbinder appear to be having their own private war of words on the apron. Lariat in the corner followed by a Russian leg sweep. Corey Maclin points out that the Spellbinder asked Ricky Murdoch to step aside so he can take his place in the match, so not only does Power Pro have a Dusty Rhodes take off (Austin Rhodes), but a Dick Murdoch one too! Double clothesline and both Khan and DK go down. King makes the tag to Spellbinder and he goes right for Koko again. The two of them end up on the outside where Binder launches the General head first into the announcer’s table. The other four of them are getting it on in the ring and Khan sidesteps a Steel double axe handle off the top and locks in the ‘Oriental spike’. DK breaks it up with a superkick, cover, but no referee who is trying to separate Koko and Spellbinder at ringside. ‘Twist of Fate’ by Laird and King only just gets a shoulder up, helped though by the ref being distracted by everything else that is going on and being late on the count. Laird levels DK with a clothesline, but flexes his biceps to the crowd instead of following up on it. Steel catches him with a spinning bulldog off the turnbuckles, somersault senton by Spellbinder and the face trio get the win. We return from a commercial break and Bulldog Raines, Derrick King and Alan Steel are in the parking lot, seemingly waiting for the arrival of Jerry Lawler, when ‘The King’ pulls up in his motor. The three of them shake his hand before Lawler makes his way into the studio. He joins Corey who seems over the moon to have ‘the King’ back in Power Pro Wrestling. Lawler gives us a bit of a history lesson about how wrestling came to be on Channel 5, how they bought Dave Brown over from Channel 13 and how for years Memphis wrestling was the most watched wrestling show in the country. Not a day went by when he wasn’t proud to say that he was a professional wrestler and that he was proud to be part of Memphis wrestling, until that day did eventually arrive. They had Kurt Angle in Power Pro Wrestling, an Olympic gold medallist who will probably be the next WWF champion, yet when he was here it was Randy Hales and Brandon Baxter who were wrestling in the main events, people who should be nowhere near a wrestling ring. It was situations like that which made him feel he wanted to move on to something different. Corey kinda cuts him off and says that he’s glad ‘the King’ is back with them now though, when Lawler corrects him saying that he’s not back and is just here to explain why he’s not back. Brandon Baxter joins the two of them and can’t work out why Jerry Lawler came out here in front of ‘hundreds of thousands’ of people on TV to cut him down? What has he ever done to him? Lawler goes on to say that while Memphis wrestling was at one time the most watched wrestling in the country, not any more. The ‘hundreds of thousands’ of people that he talks about is actually several thousand, and that’s all due to people like him, Derrick King (“who weighs 120lbs soaking wet!”) and Randy Hales pretending to be wrestlers, the people seeing them and then switching off the channel! King doesn’t take too kindly to his name being thrown around when this has nothing to do with him. After disagreeing with DK’s claims that he weighs 180lbs, ‘the King’ says how there are people at home in high school who wrestle in their back yards and want to be wrestlers that are heavier than he is. The likes of him and Brandon Baxter playing at being wrestlers led to the ratings going through the floor and that’s why he left. Rob Harlem is out and although he agrees that Brandon Baxter doesn’t look like a wrestler, that Derrick King is a ‘little man’, he on the other hand is 300lbs+, has been to the WWF and he knows that he’s a wrestler. Lawler jokes how he was Mo in the WWF a hundred pounds ago but ate himself out of a job! The fans in the studio liked that one! It’s a company full of wannabes, never was’s or has beens, and that’s why he got sick and tired of it. General Koko and Charlie Laird are next to take umbrage with what Lawler is saying and the General is surprised to see him in Power Pro, what with ‘the King’ being a commentator for the WWF now. He knows that he’s a big star up there, but he was a bigger star as he wrestled in the WWF and wrestled at eight Wrestlemanias (hmmm, I make it four Koko and that’s including a dark match). Lawler responds that he remembers him as a big star in the WWF, with Frankie on his shoulder and wrestling all over the world. Now he doesn’t see Frankie, he sees Charlie and he sees Koko B. Ware in an army uniform trying to do something ‘the King’ did back in in 1977. Like he said it’s wannabes and shouldn’t be’s when Brandon Baxter interrupts him. He’s had enough of Lawler talking to them like they’re paeons and tells him that there is five of them, they don’t want him here, the people don’t need him and what they should do is roll him in the ring, beat the crap out of him and then throw him into the parking lot where the garbage belongs,. ‘The King’ says that the five of them may be able to do that, then again they may not. If they decide to do that though, then next week he’ll bring all his WWF friends to the studio and they can try to lock the doors and bolt the windows, but they’ll kick them in and then kick the crap out of each and every one of them. Corey looks to calm the situation, when Baxter tells him they’ll take their chances and they all jump ‘the King’. Lawler holds his own against the five of them as well as Khan, until Slash is out and hits his neckbreaker on him. They drag ‘the King’ out to the parking lot (and he cuts up his shoulder on the glass of the door along the way), throwing him out the building like they said they would. Slash then warns Lawler to go and get all his WWF friends and they’ll do the same to them as what they did to him. Enjoyable little six man kicks us off and King and Steel would’ve made a real good team had they gone down that route with them. The real crux of this though is the Lawler angle that follows. ‘The King’ does a tremendous job on his promo, and while I wasn’t keen on taking shots at DK (who along with Slash/Wolfie has being the wrestler of the year in Power Pro) I guess he needed to do/say something in order to unite Power Pro together. Lawler holding his own against the six of them until Slash’s arrival was a little much, but I genuinely can’t wait to see what happens next week and whether Lawler does show up with the MCW/WWF guys and what their response is.

September 2000 CZW 1. Trent Acid vs Nick Mondo (Cage of Death II…After Dark 9/9) 2. Lobo vs Justice Pain (Cage of Death) (Cage of Death II…After Dark 9/9) 3. Lobo vs Zandig (Cage of Death) (Cage of Death II…After Dark 9/9) 4. Ryuji Yamakawa vs Zandig (Cage of Death II…After Dark 9/9) ECW 1. Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke (ECW on TNN 9/8) 2. Justin Credible vs Steve Corino (ECW on TNN 9/15) 3. Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke vs Roadkill & Danny Doring (ECW on TNN 9/22) 4. Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke (Hardcore TV 9/3) 5. Justin Credible vs Steve Corino vs Jerry Lynn (ECW on TNN 9/29) 6. Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs E.Z. Money & Julio Dinero (ECW on TNN 9/15) 7. Tommy Dreamer & Mikey Whipwreck & Jerry Lynn vs Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger & C.W. Anderson (Cleveland, OH 9/7) 8. Rob Van Dam & Kid Kash vs Jerry Lynn & Tommy Dreamer (Hardcore TV 9/3) 9. Rhino vs Rob Van Dam (Cleveland, OH 9/7) 10. Steve Corino vs C.W. Anderson (Danbury, CT 9/23) 11. Kid Kash vs Rhino (Hardcore TV 9/24) 12. Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke vs Mikey Whipwreck & Psicosis (Danbury, CT 9/23) 13. Christian York & Joey Matthews vs Roadkill & Danny Doring (Buffalo, NY 9/8) 14. Mikey Whipwreck & Chilly Willy & Balls Mahoney vs Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger & C.W. Anderson (Buffalo, NY 9/8) 15. Justin Credible & Rhino vs Tommy Dreamer & Jerry Lynn (ECW on TNN 9/1) 16. Rob Van Dam vs C.W. Anderson (Hardcore TV 9/24) 17. Kid Kash vs Chris Hamrick (Cleveland, OH 9/7) 18. Sandman & Chilly Willy vs Da Baldies (Angel & DeVito) (Cleveland 9/7) 19. Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke vs Roadkill & Danny Doring (Cleveland, OH 9/7) 20. Christian York & Joey Matthews vs E.Z. Money & Julio Dinero (Hardcore TV 9/3) 21. Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs Tommy Dreamer & Jerry Lynn (ECW on TNN 9/1) 22. Rhino vs Jerry Lynn (ECW Danbury, CT 9/23) 23. Roadkill & Danny Doring vs Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs Nova & Chris Chetti (Hardcore TV 9/10) 24. Rob Van Dam & Kid Kash vs Da Baldies (Angel & DeVito) (ECW Danbury, CT 9/23) 25. Balls Mahoney vs E.Z. Money (Cleveland, OH 9/7) 26. Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs Roadkill & Danny Doring (ECW on TNN 9/1) 27. Kid Kash vs Psicosis (Buffalo, NY 9/8) 28. Kid Kash vs Mikey Whipwreck (Hardcore TV 9/24) 29. Rob Van Dam vs Scotty Anton (Hardcore TV 9/10) NR - Rhino vs Kid Kash (ECW on TNN 9/8) Indies 1. Kurt Angle vs Christopher Daniels (UPW Truth or Consequences 9/13) 2. Russ & Charlie Haas & Kevin Kelly vs Cheetah Master & Ty Street (Handicap) (ECWA 9/23) 3. Mark & Jay Briscoe vs Mozart Fontaine & Eddie Valentine (ECWA 9/23) 4. Low Ki & Don Montoya vs Monsta Mack & Mace Mendoza (Tables & Ladders) (FWA 9/9) 5. Doug Williams vs Maverick Wilde (NECW 9/16) 6. Tony Kozina vs Buddy Wayne (Portland 9/00) 7. Corporal Robinson vs Dino Bambino (Bed of Nails) (MAW 9/1) 8. Low Ki vs Scoot Andrews (match two) (ECWA 9/23) 9. Dino Divine & Christopher Carmichael vs Christian York & Joey Matthews (MCW Maryland 9/27) 10. Joey Jackson vs Torch (Portland 9/00) 11. CM Punk vs Bobby Bambino (MAW 9/1) 12. Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho (IWA-PR 9/30) 13. Adam Pearce vs Ken Anderson (ACW 9/9) 14. Low Ki & Homicide vs Legion Knights (Deacon Riot & Father Legion) vs Just Chillin’ (Rex Rockwell & Willy) (LIWF 9/16) 15. Jodie Fleisch & Kevin O’Neill & Blade vs Jonny Storm & LX Blade & Ross Gordon (FWA The Rules Have Changed 9/23) 16. Thunder & Lightning vs Barry & Kendall Windham (WWC 9/30) 17. Prototype vs Bad Boy Basil (UPW Truth or Consequences 9/13) 18. Barry Horowitz vs Cuban Assassin (IPW 9/8) 19. Bart Sawyer vs Chad Hawke (Hardcore) (Portland 9/00) 20. SEX (Chad Hawke & Chuck Gordy) vs Moondog Moretti & Bluto (Portland 9/00) NR - Low Ki vs Scoot Andrews (match one) (ECWA 9/23) NR - Scorpio Sky vs Quicksilver (SCWA 9/00) IWA-MS 1. CM Punk vs Suicide Kid (Sweet Science 16 2000 - Night Two 9/9) 2. Chris Hero vs American Kickboxer (Sweet Science 16 2000 - Night Two 9/9) 3. Bad Breed (Ian & Axl Rotten) vs Corporal Robinson & Hardcore Craig (Sweet Science 16 2000 - Night Two 9/9) 4. Chris Hero vs Ace Steel (Sweet Science 16 2000 - Night Two 9/9) 5. Chris Hero vs Harry Palmer (Sweet Science 16 2000 - Night Two 9/9) 6. Chris Hero vs Colt Cabana (Sweet Science 16 2000 - Night One 9/8) 7. Ace Steel vs Shark Boy (Sweet Science 16 2000 - Night One 9/8) 8. Mitch Page vs Cash Flo (Caribbean Spider Net Glass Death) (Sweet Science 16 2000 - Night One 9/8) JAPW 1. Low Ki vs Billy Reil (September Slaughter 9/22) 2. Da Hit Squad vs Don Montoya & Homicide (September Slaughter 9/22) MCW 1. Reckless Youth vs Robbie Brookside (9/16) 2. American Dragon vs Spanky (9/16) 3. Tracey Smothers & Lance Cade vs Salsario Boys (9/23) 4. Joey Abs vs K-Krush (9/2) 5. Steven Regal vs Shooter Schultz (9/16) 6. Lance Cade & Tracey Smothers vs The Kingpins (9/2) 7. Spanky vs Steven Regal (9/9) 8. Reckless Youth vs Ronnie James (Hair vs Hair) (9/23) 9. American Dragon vs Spanky (9/23) 10. Tracey Smothers vs Lance Cade (9/30) 11. American Dragon vs Robbie Brookside (9/2) 12. American Dragon vs Fabulous Rocker (9/9) MPPW 1. Derrick King vs Khan (9/9) 2. Blade Boudreaux vs Slash (9/16) 3. Slash vs Austin Rhodes (9/9) 4. The Regulators & Slash vs Bill Dundee & Brickhouse Brown & Spellbinder (9/30) 5. ‘Evening the Odds III’ (9/16) 6. Derrick King & Blade Boudreaux vs Charlie Laird & Jeff Logan (9/2) NWA Wildside 1. Boogaloo Crew vs A.J. Styles & Onyx (9/16) 2. A.J. Styles vs Lazz (9/2) 3. Onyx & Terry Knight vs Boogaloo Crew (Scotty Wrenn & J.C. Dazz) (9/2) 4. Joey Corbin & Kevin Douglas vs Samir & Zane Morris (9/23) 5. Shank & Lazz vs Onyx & Terry Knight (9/30) 6. Lazz vs Ice (9/9) 7. Air Paris vs Adam Jacobs (9/9) 8. Kid Kash vs Eddie Golden (9/30) 9. Gemini vs Onyx (9/9) NR - Onyx & Terry Knight vs American Males (Adam Jacobs & Silky Boom Boom) (9/2) OVW 1. Disciples of Synn (Slash & Damien) vs Nick Dinsmore & Damaja (9/2) 2. Nick Dinsmore vs Rob Conway (9/9) 3. Damaja & Nick Dinsmore vs Jason Lee & Derrick King (9/30) WCW 1. Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera (Thunder 9/20) 2. Sting vs Jeff Jarrett (2/3 Falls) (Thunder 9/13) 3. Sting & Booker T & Kronik & Bill Goldberg vs Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner & Kevin Nash & Vince Russo (War Games) (Nitro 9/4) 4. Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire & Mike Sanders vs Jung Dragons (Thunder 9/20) 5. Lance Storm vs General Rection (Fall Brawl 9/17) 6. Rey Mysterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera vs Shannon Moore & Shane Helms (Worldwide 9/2) 7. Sting vs Lance Storm (Nitro 9/25) 8. Rey Mysterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera vs Ron & Don Harris (Thunder 9/6) 9. Rey Mysterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera vs Insane Clown Posse (Nitro 9/4) 10. Sting vs Vampiro (Anything Goes) (Thunder 9/6) 11. Rey Mysterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera vs Kronik (Nitro 9/11) 12. Kevin Nash & Scott Steiner vs Booker T & Ernest Miller (Thunder 9/13) 13. Bill Goldberg vs Lance Storm & Elix Skipper (Thunder 9/6) 14. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner (Nitro 9/11) 15. Booker T vs Vince Russo (Caged Heat) (Nitro 9/25) NR - Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera (Thunder 9/27)

A first round match in something called the ‘Ultimate Victory’ tournament, where the overall winner will win themselves a motor cycle. King with the early upper hand which sees the pair even pull out some Guerrero/Malenko pinfall reversal spots. He goes for a Lucha style wheelbarrow but Khan blocks whatever he’s got planned, pancaking him to the mat. ‘T-Bone suplex’, Khan looks for the ‘Oriental spike’ although DK still has his wits about him and counters with a belly to back suplex. As King fires back, Khan shoots him into the official and we have our obligatory Power Pro ref bump. Crossbody by King but there’s no-one to count the fall. Superkick, he’s still down, so DK now counts himself getting the visual pin in the process. By the time the ref has recovered, so has Khan and he kicks out at two. Khan reverses the whip to the corner, King with the tip up and Khan crashes into the turnbuckles. He runs to the opposite one and tries the same again, but Khan doesn’t fall for it a second time, waiting for him to land and immediately slapping on the ‘Oriental spike’. King rolls forward trying to break out, however Khan has got him trapped, the hold locked on and King passes out as Khan advances to round two. This ‘Ultimate Victory’ tournament is so 1980’s, like when they would give away a TV or a car to the winner. We surprisingly get to see brackets for the tournament, although the roster is so thin at the moment there are both question marks and byes in there to fill up all the spots. After breaking his streak last week, King is back in the losing column here. I like the way he tried to fight out of the ‘Oriental spike’ though, a hold that they’re continuing to protect and let no-one escape from at the moment.

This is a good time to ask if every single match that aired in the original ITV run aired on the "Movies & Men" run in the 2000s. Or were some left on the cutting room floor? In other words, are there original 70s-80s recordings out there that are worth finding and getting, or would they just be duplicates of the superior quality 2000s stuff that aired? Providing that itvwrestling.co.uk is complete then, going by the spreadsheet I typed up about five years ago, 732 different matches aired on TWC. If you say that the original ITV Saturday afternoon broadcasts on average would air three matches per show, say fifty shows a year, then that 732 would equate to roughly five years of broadcasts. Considering that TWC aired matches from 1972, I would say there is a good ten years worth of stuff that never aired, likely more, although John would know far more than me on the subject.

Brickhouse Brown wasn’t someone I was expecting to see pop up in 2000, while ‘The Superstar’s’ female entourage has depleted by half from the last time we saw him. After a chaotic opening, which saw the face trio rush the heels, the action starts to slow down. Dundee is too busy re-positioning a cap that he stole from ‘Slick Rick’ that he misses breaking up Rob Harlem’s cover on Brickhouse, leaving him to have to kick out instead. Double back elbow by the Regulators. Slash with a suplex, and this time Dundee remembers, coming off the top with a double axe handle to break up the pin attempt. ‘The Superstar’ seems to be a law unto himself in this. Big spinning wheel kick by Rob before he gives Spellbinder a shove on the apron. Binder falls for the ploy as it was just a way to distract the referee, as while he’s dealing with him, Rob and Slash are double teaming Brickhouse behind his back. Scoop powerslam out of nowhere, but Brickhouse isn’t able to make the tag. The match breaks down soon after with the ref letting everything go. Slash just waltzes into the ring at one point with the official not even attempting to stop him, and after Brickhouse tags Dundee, Spellbinder enters the ring too. Myles Long is out to attack Dundee, and despite this being right in front of the referee, it’s not disqualification worthy. Slash uses the fork on ‘the Superstar’ and still no disqualification. Spike piledriver and the bell rings, the ref having thrown the match out because he couldn’t control the wrestlers any more. Not due to outside interference, not due to the uses of foreign object and not due to the spike piledriver! The show closes with Dave Brown reminding everyone that Jerry Lawler will be on the show and in the studio next week. The referee’s care free attitude to officiating this tells you everything, as this was a case of ‘the big dog is back next week so go and fill up six minutes of TV time please’. Hoping that the arrival of Lawler is the shot in the arm that Power Pro needs as it is feeling like a dying territory right now.

A god awful promo from Dragon where he talks as is he’s almost a real life superhero (“I am the American Dragon and I am from America!”). Ronnie James is back to provide more guest commentary for this match. Some cool counters and reversals by both off the wristlock. Dragon with a dropkick, he goes to kick Reckless in the chest, however Youth catches the leg only for Dragon to do what amounts to an arm drag with that trapped foot. Fujiwara armbar but Reckless rolls through to escape. Headscissors takedown by Youth, he doesn’t follow up though, preferring to blow kisses at James! When he does, Dragon backdrops him over the top rope to the floor. Pescado, Dragon throws him back into the ring but now he’s the one not following up and is posturing to the crowd. As he steps back in himself, Reckless kicks the middle rope up. Springboard missile dropkick, Youth then slaps on an abdominal stretch, pushing Dragon’s head down while again blowing kisses in James’ direction. Danielson ducks under the clothesline before shoving Reckless chest first into the corner and unloading with forearms and martial arts kicks. He sits him on the middle turnbuckle, but Reckless blocks the superplex and hits a face first suplex instead. Knee drop off the top to the back of the head. Dragon reverses the go behind, floats over after the Northern Lights and a beautiful bridging fallaway slam into a pin for a two count. Reckless throws Dragon into referee Charlie Miller and James decides to leave the commentary booth and head down to ringside. He throws a steel chair to Reckless, who in turn throws it to Dragon, chops the chair and falls down clutching at his head. Miller comes around to see Dragon with the chair, whilst at the same time Youth is claiming that he hit him with it. Charlie Miller is clearly not a good judge as he disqualifies Dragon on the back of Reckless’ words. Youth sprints off before he can change his mind, making sure to get a cheap shot in on James as he’s trying to explain what happened. If they are trying to turn Dragon into a superhero then they need to quit that idea pronto. Good match and whilst I haven’t been a fan of that finish when I’ve seen it before (see Punk vs Cabana), it fitted perfectly into Reckless’ character. I don’t know why James threw the chair at him though? The only thing I can think of is that he was ‘meant’ to throw it for Dragon to use and Reckless intercepted, but it was done so badly that it looked like he threw it deliberately at Youth. I did like the way that Reckless also chopped the chair to make the sound of him being hit with it.

This is the third ‘Evening the Odds’ match we’ve had and each has been different to the other, with this being a combination of the previous two. The order of entrance for the participants is Myles Long, Bulldog Raines, Big Nasty Bill, Derrick King, Khan, Alan Steel, Jet Logan, Blade Boudreaux, Slash and finally the Spellbinder. Dave and Corey talk about the respective ‘good’ and ‘bad’ teams (ETO I) thus explaining why it’s always heel, face, heel etc., but that only one man can win (like in ETO II). With Long, Raines and BNB (who has totally ripped off Steve Austin with his look, complete with shaven head, goatee, black trunks, kneepads and boots, right down to a black leather waistcoat that he wrestles the entire match in) this came across as a jobber Royal Rumble at first until ‘Mr Personalitieeeeeees’ joins proceedings. DK takes a suplex on the floor at one point which goes above and beyond for a match like this. Slash enters carrying a crutch which he uses on members of the opposition. Steel fails to connect on the elbow where he springs backwards off the middle turnbuckle as Khan ducks out the way. ‘Oriental spike’ but Spellbinder comes to ‘All That’s’ rescue while Slash is digging his fork into King’s forehead on the arena floor. The ring slowly clears and Blade hits the ‘Gator Drop’ on Jet Logan for the win.

Second round match in the ‘Ultimate Victory’ tournament and Brandon Baxter is back after a few weeks absence of not accompanying Slash. A pair of dropkicks by Blade, but he misses the third as Slash swats him away. Over the shoulder backbreaker, however Blade escapes and hits a Russian legsweep for two. He misses the splash in the corner, crashing into the top turnbuckle as Slash moves out the way. Airplane spin dropped into a DDT. There’s no-one home on the leg drop and Blade starts to fire back. Slash blocks the ‘Gator Drop’, driving Boudreaux backwards into the corner. You knew this one was coming as he then whips Blade into the referee knocking the official down. Blade counters the neckbreaker with a belly to back suplex and Baxter pulls a fork out of his pocket which he hands to Slash. Khan and Big Nasty Bill try to interfere but Blade sees them off, only to turn around and get jabbed in the face with that fork. Neckbreaker, Baxter rouses the ref and Slash gets the three. Baxter’s army, no-one refers to them as ‘The Cartel’ any more so I take it that name has been dropped, looks so much more weaker with the likes of Khan and Big Nasty Bill compared to how it used to be when he was aligned with Seven and The Regulators. I know from checking the spreadsheet that the MCW guys are due to arrive at some point and Power Pro feels as though it’s treading water waiting for their arrival. While the matches are easy to watch, quality is nowhere near what Dragon, Spanky, Reckless, Regal et al are putting out on the opposition. The ref bumps are beyond played out now mind too.

Slash says how the non-believers thought they were going to kick him off TV last week and that would stop the evil and stop the madness, but it didn’t stop anything. Everybody that has crossed him that steps in the ring gets slashed. He tells Corey and ‘weather man’ to shut their face as for a long time he’s wanted to beat their brains out, and says that pro wrestling is going to find out what evil is all about. Aargh, Austin Rhodes is that unidentified wrestler from the ‘13 man elimination match’ and this is another bout in the ‘Ultimate Victory tournament’. Rhodes ducks under a couple of clotheslines and hits a crossbody for a one count. Single leg trip, but Rhodes kicks Slash off and takes him down with an arm drag. Slash backs him into the corner where he unloads with a flurry of headbutts. Suplex, he drops the leg but Rhodes kicks out at two. A back kick low blow puts a stop to the ‘Rude Awakening’ (we really need to find out what Slash calls it) and a piss poor imitation of Dusty Rhodes complete with ‘Bionic Elbow’ Reverse bulldog off the top for another near fall. Rhodes complains about the slow count before making a right hash of a roll up. Slash kicks out, but in doing so send Rhodes crashing into the ring post. Neckbreaker and he advances to face Blade Boudreaux in the next round of the tournament. I will say that I thought Rhodes looked better than Charlie Laird and Jet Logan did last week, but matches like this really emphasise the lack of depth in Power Pro at the moment. As Slash was the one advancing he gave Rhodes the majority of the match before hitting his neckbreaker for the win.

Gen. Koko B. Ware is doing a Sgt. Slaughter gimmick with Charlie Laird in the Terry Daniels role. Logan isn’t wearing the camouflage fatigues so it looks like he hasn’t been fully initiated into the Corp yet. Jet starts off promisingly against King until DK ducks under a clothesline and catches him with a neckbreaker. Laird was supposed to break up the pin but he’s late, so the ref has to delay on his count while Logan kicks out himself. Double suplex on Laird for a two. As Blade runs the ropes, Jet swings at him from the apron causing a distraction and allowed Laird to hit a laboured take on the ‘Olympic slam’. He follows that with a terrible looking bulldog where Boudreaux jumped to take the bump before Charlie has even grabbed hold of him. Flying forearm and Blade makes the hottish tag. Three lovely right hands to the jaw of Logan, superkick and this time Laird remembers that he needs to break up the cover! All four men are in the ring, Koko hooks King’s leg from the outside and Laird with an ‘Ace Crusher’. He would rather dance than go for the pin though, in the process ‘bumping’ into the referee in a spot that looked even hokier than that bulldog. When he eventually does cover his man, there’s no-one to count. Laird complains to the ref wondering where he was (is he for real?) and when he turns around, King with the facebuster for the win. The General isn’t happy with his charges losing and gets them to do drills in the ring as punishment. When you compare the newcomers of MCW to the newcomers of MPPW, there is no comparison. Laird looked plain bad here, blowing making the save on the pin attempt, that awful bulldog (although to be fair that was every bit, if not more, Boudreaux’s fault), the ridiculous ref bump and of the two, Logan looks to have more potential. While he generally doesn’t have an issue when in there with better workers, seeing Blade against a pair of greenhorns does amplify his shortcomings. King pulls out the win for his team, stopping his rot from previous weeks.

This was scheduled as a singles match between Alan Steel and Blade Boudreaux for a shot at the TV title, but the moment the bell rings to get it underway out walks Derrick King. DK says how he made a bad decision recently and the office are punishing him for making that decision (what that decision is we aren’t told). He’s taking it like a man though, not like a little child. King then says that he wants a TV title match himself and challenges Blade and Steel to make this a three way dance because he’s proven to everyone that he deserves it. Not sure how losing on television for the past two weeks means that you deserve to be in a match where the winner get s TV title match, but hey ho. Steel and Blade clearly aren’t thinking straight and are more than happy to acquiesce and let him join them here. Blade ducks a double clothesline and sees the double backdrop coming, kicking DK in the chest and levelling Steel with a DDT. King with a neckbreaker and ‘All That’ is back to his feet just in time to break up the pin. Boudreaux reverses the whip to the corner, but Steel leaps to the middle turnbuckle springing backwards with a flying elbow. DK catapults ‘All That’, only to be caught with a ‘Russian leg sweep’ by Blade. A flying forearm sends Steel rolling out of the ring leaving King and Blade all alone in there. Accidental clash of heads see both men go down. Superkick by King, but he can’t capitalise and Steel with a big splash off the top on to Blade. King backdrops Steel over the top rope to the outside and Dave Brown is quick to point out that it was momentum that took Steel over so it’s legal! He’s watching ‘All That’ on the floor instead of concentrating on the inside and Blade gets the victory with his ‘Gator Drop’. Third straight loss on the bounce for King (fourth if you include the Elimination match earlier in the show) and this does have a feeling that it’s heading somewhere with him (especially with his pre-match interview talking about how he’s been ‘punished’). Again, why would Boudreaux and Steel allow King to interject himself into the match when there is a title shot on the line and it makes it more difficult for them? I suppose Blade won’t be caring as he got the win anyway! Steel and King are two of the better workers in Power Pro so this was a fine, albeit short (what is it with Power Pro at the moment?), TV bout.

A big old elimination match to kick off this episode of Power Pro Wrestling, where the winner gets their dream match later in the show. Dave and Corey keep referring to this as a ‘14 man elimination’, although I only count 13 so it looks like someone no showed. The first guy eliminated isn’t even named and is pinned after a bog standard suplex by Rob Harlem. From this point on the eliminations come thick and fast as they look to try and whittle the numbers down. Raines gets a pin on Logan following a big slam, Wild Bill clocks Boudreaux with his cow bell, facebuster by DK on Laird, Khan makes King submit to the ‘Oriental spike’ after Slash had moments earlier pulled down the top rope sending him careering over it to the floor, Wild Bill runs into the boot of Raines and an Alan Steel splash off the top eliminates him, Steel makes it two with an inside cradle on Rob Harlem, before Slash’s ‘Rude Awakening’ takes out ‘All That’ and we’re down to our final five. Slash’s interference backfires badly as he goes to hit Raines, but misses and nails Khan instead. Bulldog with that big slam he used on Logan, Slash looks to drop an elbow to break up the pin, though Raines sees him coming and he lands on Khan. A huge right sends Slash over the top to the outside before covering Khan and he is out of there. Spellbinder finally decides to get involved in proceedings but lasts a monumental twenty three seconds, looking strong against Deon, until Slash sprays something in his eyes and the Regulator schoolboys him. Slash with the ‘Rude Awakening’ on Deon and he gets the victory, walloping Raines with his shin guard and also earning his ‘dream match’ where he will team alongside Khan in a handicap bout against the Spellbinder for the PPW title. I don’t know what to make of this one, the match didn’t drag and I wasn’t bored, but at the same time there was nothing overly memorable. Those early eliminations were so quick too that some of the wrestlers didn’t get much of a chance to show anything. Even though Slash got the win, Bulldog Raines (the former Aristocrat) was pushed hard in the match, although he’s not the guy you want in the upper card of your promotion. Charlie Laird and Derrick King and then Rob Harlem and Alan Steel both had nice exchanges when they were in with each other. Still no Brandon Baxter mind with The Regulators being managed by this character called ‘Slick Rick’.

Wolfie D is wearing the scars and cuts of his previous battles. He says that he’s had people staring at him all week because of what Bill Dundee did to his face with a steel chair. Ali took his eye out, now Dundee puts this slash down his face, he looks like a freak! Wolfie pulls out a picture of PG-13 and asks Corey who does he see in that picture? When he replies J.C. Ice and Wolfie D, he tells him “half right”, but the guy in that photo looks nothing like the man standing next to him now. The person in that photo used to have girls hanging off him, now they’re scared of him, little kids used to come up wanting his autograph, now they run off to their parents. He declares that Wolfie D is dead, and as he’s nothing but a slash, a freak, from this point on his name is ‘Slash’. Fortunately King has recovered from that nasty bump he took last week. Quick pin attempt by DK after a shoulder tackle. Slash escapes the full nelson, snap mare, but he then double axe handles the mat as King moves out the way. Book to the gut, spinning powerbomb and the ref screws up, counting three even though DK has got a shoulder up. Slash complains about the count before returning to business. ‘Alleycopter’ and Corey references Al Perez this week! He goes for another spinning powerbomb but this time King counters with a headscissors. Crossbody off the top for two. Whip to the corner and Slash backdrops an incoming DK over the top, however he lands on the apron and then clotheslines Slash on the top rope. Missile dropkick and Wolfie is able to roll a shoulder up in time. He ducks a superkick but not the second, although King still can’t put his opponent away. Slash halts the backslide with a back kick low blow and hits the ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker for the win. Really good interview from Wolfie starting us off. He has slowly been morphing into Slash over the past several months and completes the transformation here. Where was Brandon Baxter by the way? Not with Seven last week and no sign of him with Slash this. Like King’s match with Seven, this was again on the short side and again not as competitive as I would have expected, although the work was better with these two. I also thought King was going to lose in double quick time after Slash landed the spinning powerbomb.

Seven stops off to have a quick word with Corey and explains that he doesn’t have Brandon Baxter with him today because he needs to prove something to himself, that he doesn’t need that midget to follow him around to win matches! Swinging neckbreaker by DK after escaping from an attempted side slam. He climbs to the top turnbuckle, but Seven pushes the official into the ropes and King loses his balance up there crotching himself. Superplex and a pretty slack cover sees DK kick out at two. Inverted face first suplex (starting off in a reverse DDT position, lifting King up and then slamming him back to the mat) followed by a powerslam. Seven misses a slingshot senton and DK with a crossbody off the top for a two. Irish whip is reversed, tip up by King, but Seven catches him, reverses his own position and hits a brutally stiff looking ‘Alabama slam’. ‘The Redemption’ and this one is over while King is still holding the back of his head, clearly in pain from that ‘Alabama slam’. That ‘Alabama slam’ was nasty and could easily have concussed King the way the back of his head slammed against the canvas. Seven tended to rely and power moves but still looked green in there on more than one occasion. Match wasn’t as competitive either as I would have expected from these two either.

Brandon Baxter is out running his mouth about Bill Dundee not knowing where Samantha is, and Dave Brown can’t get the words out quick enough that everyone saw that it was he and Wolfie who took her. Dundee joins them and he’s accompanied by a bunch of women all wearing zebra print dresses to match ‘the Superstar’s’ zebra print shirt. He tells Baxter to bring Samantha back otherwise he’ll turn all those women loose on him. Baxter initially tries to blame it all on Wolfie, but that doesn’t wash with Dundee. ‘The Superstar’ sets off to try and find her, again warning Baxter that is he can’t, he’ll set all those women, who’re Samantha’s friends, on him. Baxter doesn’t appreciate the threat and tells Dundee that although he might have been able to whip him twenty years ago, he guarantees that he could beat him to death in that ring right now! Can’t you smell a set up ‘Superstar’? Obviously not, as he tells Baxter to “climb his little fanny in there!”. Dundee trying to get the fans to ‘raise the roof’ is every bit as funny as Jim Neidhart busting some moves to K-Krush’s rapping. The ‘match’ goes all of 30 seconds before interference from Seven, Loco (an ally of Dundee’s who’s wearing a similar awful zebra print shirt) and Wolfie D. Wolfie cracks them both with a steel chair and then handcuffs ‘the Superstar’ to the top rope. Baxter drags Samantha out and into the ring, where Wolfie gives her the ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker whilst Dundee has to watch on helpless.

Brandon Baxter and Ali join Corey Maclin, and Baxter explains that now Ali is a WCW contracted performer, he only talks to people that are on his level; as Corey is not, he will be conducting the interview. After Baxter snatches the mic off him they have a physical (for Corey Maclin!) shoving exchange until Ali gets involved and Corey thinks better of it. You can tell Ali is under a WCW deal because he’s ‘shooting’ here. He explains that he was the one carrying Power Pro Wrestling from the day he arrived in the company. After everyone else left (to form MCW) he was the one who kept it going and did everything that was asked of him when he was the champion. The likes of Spellbinder wouldn’t even have a Power Pro Wrestling if it wasn’t for him! All the fans are now cheering for Bill Dundee, forgetting everything that he did before he left. He built Memphis Power Pro Wrestling, but Memphis Power Pro Wrestling turned their back on him. Spellbinder is out to confront him and challenges him to get in the ring and face him right now. Brandon Baxter pulls out his format for the show and says that that match isn’t on it so it won’t be happening. Maclin tears the format up and Brandon then claims that they won’t be wrestling for free on TV today. If Spellbinder wants Ali, they can do it on 8/12 at the ‘Clash on Campus’ where these people will have to pay to see it, and where Ali can regain his PPW title. Despite preferring to have the match today, Spellbinder agrees. Texas Tornado tag match where all four men can be in the ring at the same time, where there is no time limit and no disqualification. To emphasise that there is no DQ, the first thing that Spellbinder does is clobber Wolfie with his Power Pro title. Binder chokes him on the announcer’s table while Seven and Blade fight it out in the ring. They soon join their partners on the outside and Blade reverses being whipped into the desk, sending Seven clattering into it instead. As he unloads with a flurry of rights, Khan appears, puts a plastic bag over Blade’s head and drags him off to the back leaving Spellbinder all alone, two against one. Two becomes three as ‘Mr WCW’, Ali, joins Baxter at ringside to get a closer view of the action. Seven with a big running splash in the corner for a two. He holds Spellbinder so that Wolfie can target his ribs with some kicks, only for Binder to move out the way and Wolfie connects with his own man. Spellbinder clotheslines Seven over the top rope to the outside and a powerslam on Wolfie for a two. Fallaway slam, he signals it’s over, when Ali reaches into the ring and grabs his leg. Wolfie tries to rush Binder but gets backdropped over the top and out to where Seven and Ali are. A reckless dive off the apron onto all three, but it’s not long before the numbers are too much and the three of them put a beating on Binder as the show goes off the air. Good interview from Ali and while his reasonings for turning on Spellbinder all makes sense, he doesn’t explain or give any reason as for why he’s now associated with Brandon Baxter though. This ‘Mr WCW’ big shot gimmick is pretty funny mind especially, as mentioned previously, due to the fact I have no recollection of him ever wrestling there! The match was one of those ‘exploration of time’ deals so you’re left with no finish as they ran out of time on the show.

Brandon Baxter isn’t happy that Bill Dundee invaded ‘his’ Power Hour, now that he did, he will be buried ten feet under the ground! Ali and Spellbinder go right after their opponents and Corey thinks they are one of the most exciting tag teams he has seen in a long time. A pair of clotheslines by Spellbinder sends them both retreating to the outside where Baxter calls for a timeout. This isn’t the NFL as they would say, and Binder with a flip dive from the apron to the floor onto them. Wolfie reverses a whip to the corner but then misses the charge as Spellbinder moves out the way. Seven looks to get in a cheap shot from the apron and, while he misses, the distraction allows Wolfie to catch Binder with a knee from behind. Double team behind the official’s back as Ali tries to help his partner out. He eventually makes the tag, although the ref misses it and all four men end up in the ring. DDT by Spellbinder on Wolfie and Ali’s clothesline sends Seven tumbling through the ropes. Baxter grabs a chair and sneaks into the ring, however drops it and quickly exits the moment Ali turns around and sees him. Ali picks up the chair himself, but turns on Binder, cracking him over the head with it. Wolfie makes the cover as Ali celebrates with Baxter and ‘The Cartel’. After months of fighting and feuding with Baxter, Wolfie and The Cartel, now all of a sudden Ali joins them? Maybe he was influenced by all those nonsensical turns in WCW and now that he’s part of the company, thought he’d do one himself? Poor match topped off with a head scratching finish and turn.

Reckless tries to get the crowd to clap along with him but they have no interest. It’s a different matter altogether though when Brookside tries though! Wristlock and Reckless is straight over grabbing the ropes for the break. Brookside works over Youth’s left arm and now he’s stooging and backing off in the corner. Drop down, leap frog and Reckless rolls himself into a ball and feeds Brookside the arm a la Johnny Saint. They work in a few more Saint spots before a dropkick sends Youth rolling out of the ring. He tries to surprise Brookside, sneaking up on him from behind, but he senses him coming and tosses Reckless over the top rope and straight back out to the floor. Brookside with a high knee, however as he charges Reckless picks him up and drops him face first into the top turnbuckle. Youth was about to give himself a pat on the back after that one but couldn’t manage it because he was hurting too much! Reverse neck snap, he then takes some tape off his wrist an uses that to choke Brookside out of the sight of the official, although not the crowd. Rolling neckbreaker for two. He cups his ear to the crowd like Hulk Hogan, but gives up as he’s still not getting the reaction he desires. Brookside falls into the ropes as Reckless heads up top, causing him to crotch himself, and hits a superplex that takes out both men. Neckbreaker by Robbie and Youth only just kicks out. Whip to the corner, but Reckless blocks the monkey flip, short powerbombing Brookside to the mat. Folding press with both feet over the middle rope for added leverage and Reckless gets the win. They’re still at ‘Libertyland’ and Brookside would have felt right at home in this environment as the setting very much reminded me of a British Holiday Camp show, the kind of which he would’ve worked hundreds, if not thousands of in the UK. Fun match with Reckless heeling it up and playing to the crowd whilst adding some nice touches along the way such as not being able to pat himself on the back because he was hurt, using his wrist tape and even incorporating some old WOS spots. Brookside was okay here and did get the crowd behind him but that’s about it. I also thought that this came off very much as a match that the two were working for the fans in attendance as opposed to the TV audience.

Schultz is not hanging around here, going right after Regal with some forearms. He drives him back into the corner and a double underhook suplex for two. Regal escapes the hammerlock with a series of elbows to the back of the head, before locking on a submission hold where he’s got Shooter all tied up like a pretzel. A couple of European uppercuts, Regal then scissors the legs as he looks for ‘the stretch’, but Schultz is able to scramble to the ropes before he can fully apply it. Regal telegraphs the backdrop and now Shooter is going for his finisher. He locks on the full nelson, however can’t flatten Regal out and step over to turn it into ‘the clutch’. As Regal unloads on Schultz in the corner, he elbows referee Charlie Miller when he tries to get him to stop. Double leg takedown by Schultz, ‘Shooter clutch’, Regal taps, but Miller is still down and doesn’t see. Schultz goes over to check on Miller and as he does, Regal nails him from behind. ‘Regal stretch’ and Shooter submits just as the ref recovers from being KO’d. This didn’t even go four minutes, but it was aggressive and physical all the way. Quite similar to the TV match they had last month, although an abridged version.

The show opens with Dave and Corey confirming that Bill Dundee will be here today, before tape from last week after they went off air is shown. Spellbinder is holding Brandon Baxter as Seven is about to cane him, when Seven double crosses Spellbinder and canes him instead. It looks like Seven is back in ‘The Cartel’ fold, although with not watching everything, I didn’t realise he wasn’t! Back to today and Baxter leads Wolfie D out as they join Dave Brown for an interview. Wolfie blames Randy Hales for everything that happened as he told him that if he didn’t bring him the Power Pro Heavyweight title then bad things were going to happen to a few people. All those people he beat up last week, it was Randy Hales’ fault because he didn’t do what he told him. He goes on to say that a normal person might feel compassion for what he did, but he’s not normal. Blade’s not really showing much variety here, just sitting on an armbar, and once Wolfie escapes, he’s right back to it. A couple of terrible looking clotheslines before Baxter hooks his ankle from the outside. Wolfie tries to rush Blade, but he backdrops him over the top rope to the floor. Baseball slide dropkick, although like those clotheslines, this didn’t look good. Baxter jumps on the back of Blade and the ref has to pull him off, but he causes enough of a distraction that he completely misses seeing Wolfie piledriver Boudreaux on the concrete. Brief commercial break and when we return, Wolfie with an ‘Alleycopter’ for a two. Leg drop off the middle and again Boudreaux gets a shoulder up. Sunset flip out of nowhere by Blade and Brandon Baxter does what Brandon Baxter does best, distracting the official so he doesn’t see that pin attempt. Boudreaux starts to fire back on him, a flying forearm, only for Baxter to put Wolfie’s leg over the bottom rope. ‘Gator Drop’ and just as the ref is about to count the three, Khan interferes for the DQ. ‘Oriental spike’ on Blade and Spellbinder is in for the save. Baxter calls for the troops and Seven puts the numbers back in their favour as he waffles Spellbinder from behind with his kendo stick. Ali eventually runs ‘The Cartel’ off, much to Dave and Corey’s surprise and excitement as they both thought he was working for WCW today. Ali says how Brandon Baxter thought he was gone because he was in WCW, well he’s wrong because Power Pro is still Ali’s house! He tells Spellbinder that even though they’ve had their problems he respects him as a man, and asks whether he’ll be his partner against Wolfie and Seven later today. A nod of the head is all that it takes and the match is set. I had thought Blade had looked good up until now, not so here; terrible looking clotheslines, a poor baseball slide dropkick and he seemed to have no idea whatsoever outside of that armbar for the opening few minutes. The match itself was fairly boring and went roughly ten minutes before the cheap DQ interference laden finish. Was Ali in WCW? Can’t say I knew that, although it would explain my previous musings as to why WWF never took a shot on him if the was under contract to the opposition.