GSR

Brandon Baxter is out with Wolfie D and he has an offer for Spellbinder. He says how he took that nothing happening Ali and made him a star, he took that big, dumb jock Seven and made him a star, and can do the same thing for Spellbinder. He’s got a cheque for $15,000 and if Spellbinder wants it, all he has to do is join up with Wolfie and him and cancel that Power Pro title match later today. Wolfie claims there is a conspiracy going on and Randy Hales wants them out of here, but he’s the Power Pro champion and there’s nothing Hales can do about that because there is nobody capable of lacing his boots, let alone taking the title away from him. Seven is out to confront Baxter over his comments and says how he’s been protecting that gold as much as Wolfie. Baxter tries to backtrack, claiming that Seven misunderstood him and he didn’t mean it the way it came out, although Corey Maclin does his best to stir the pot and cause dissension. Baxter and Wolfie head to the ring for the title match followed by Spellbinder, as Dave Brown speculates that their $15,000 plan must’ve worked. Brandon says that he’s a man of his word hands Spellbinder the cheque and tells him to lie down and let Wolfie pin him. Spellbinder does what he’s told, Wolfie covers him and Baxter counts the three. Brandon instructs him to raise Wolfie’s hand, again he does what he’s told, only to double cross them both by then clotheslining Wolfie. An official is out and the match is underway, as Dave and Corey both find it amusing that Spellbinder still has Baxter’s cheque. Wolfie tries to turn a gorilla press into a sunset flip, however Spellbinder just grabs him around the neck and slams him down. Wolfie fires back with a series of punches and kicks, before grabbing a cravat and driving Spellbinder head first into the canvas for a two. ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker for another near fall. Spellbinder blocks the spinning powerbomb and counters with an ‘Alabama slam’ for a two of his own. Scoop powerslam, and Baxter is up on the apron distracting the official while Spellbinder gets a visual pin, counting three himself. He makes a move for Brandon, but Wolfie with a knee to the back, taking out the ref in the process. Baxter wraps a chain around his fist and comes off the top, only to unintentionally hit his own man as Spellbinder moves out the way. Somersault senton and Spellbinder gets another visual pin as the official is still down. A second ref runs out and slides into the ring, but Wolfie is able to get a shoulder up at the last split second. The replacement ref ends up getting bumped after Wolfie, sort of, whips Spellbinder into him. He dumps Spellbinder over the top to the outside, Pescado, however Spellbinder catches and then launches him into the announcer’s desk with a fallaway slam. Apparently this is now ‘falls count anywhere’ as Spellbinder covers Wolfie on the concrete. Here’s Randy Hales, although Baxter quickly puts a stop to him playing ref by throwing him head first into the desk! Spellbinder drills Baxter with a right, but Wolfie then wallops him with his shin guard. He rolls him back in the ring, covers him with his feet on the ropes and one of the officials comes around to count the three. Wasn’t expecting much here after how bad Spellbinder looked last week in the Elimination match, but this was a fun outing. Of course he was helped greatly by being in there with Wolfie who is probably the Memphis performer of the year six months in. He’s still stiff and stilted in his movements, but that fallaway slam into the announcer’s desk was great. Could’ve done without all the ref bumps, but how else is Randy Hales going to interject himself into proceedings otherwise! Baxter just throwing him head first into the desk was a genuine laugh out loud moment.

Dave Brown says that despite the mistake by the referee last week, Wolfie D remains the Power Pro champion. Ali has demanded some interview time and joins Corey Maclin in the ring. He says that on Wolfie’s best day he couldn’t beat him on his worse, and challenges him to come out and face him right now for the Power Pro title. There’s no sign of Wolfie, but there is sign of Derrick King. King tells Ali that he’s been in the back listening to what he said and everyone knows that he’s had several shots at the title already. He on the other hand, is the uncrowned champion of Power Pro wrestling (“it even says so on Randy Hales’ website!”) and he wants a shot at Wolfie D today. Ali and King exchange words with Ali saying how King needs to go home, dust off his little Young Guns trophy, and leave the heavyweights to the big boys! Seven joins the party, and as TV champion, thinks that makes him the number one contender and that he deserves a title shot. Next comes Blade Boudreaux shortly followed by the Spellbinder, and you’ve guessed it, both think they deserve a title shot too. Randy Hales is out to try and diffuse the situation and thinks that everyone should be the number one contender, but they’re all whining like little girls. He tells them to stop acting like babies, and instead of arguing about it, fight about it, before setting up a five way dance for later in the show. At which point they’re then interrupted by Koko B. Ware. He too claims to be the number one contender and deserves a title match, until he quickly forgets about that idea and claims that he is in fact the World champion! He’s been all over the world, has wrestled in the WWF and WCW (really?), has beaten the guy with the crown, the little Australian and also Ric Flair, and tells Hales to go to the back and just hand the belt over to him. Randy is having no part of that and adds Koko to the match later in the show, which is now a six way number one contender’s match. Alan Steel confronts Derrick King in the locker room as he’s dressing and claims that the only reason he’s in this match is because he sucks up to Randy Hales. King pretty much brushes him off, telling him to leave him alone as he’s got to get ready for this match. As he leaves Steel warns him that he’ll pay for walking away and not listening to him. Wolfie D joins Dave and Corey at the commentary desk for the number one contender’s match where eliminations can occur via pin, submission or via over the top rope elimination. Ali and Spellbinder gets us underway and their work is fairly unspectacular, ending when Spellbinder goes all Phantasio, throwing silly string at Ali a la Spiderman and he tags out. Blade Boudreaux and Derrick King is a vast improvement on what went before, as these two work a fast paced section together. The two exchange neckbreakers, which both garner a two, before letting Koko and Seven show what they can do. Koko’s piled on the weight, not Rob Harlem levels, but he’s a lot bigger than he was in the late 80s/early 90s. Its neckbreaker central as Seven takes down King with one. Fallaway slam followed by a gorilla press from Spellbinder as they look to isolate King and almost ‘team up’ against him. The worst clothesline spot you’ll ever see, as an unfortunate camera angle shows Seven doesn’t connect at all (missing by a good foot), yet King sells like he’s on the receiving end of one from Bradshaw. King ducks a lariat and we get our fourth neckbreaker of the match. Alan Steel is at ringside and as King primes himself for the superkick, ‘All That’ grabs his ankle. The distraction allows Seven to hit his ‘Redemption’ finisher and King is eliminated. He goes right after Steel, holding him responsible, and the pair have to be separated by a bunch of officials and referees. The match continues as Koko attacks Ali with a stick, and then busts out a (Muhammad) Ali shuffle in between peppering him with some soft looking jabs. I think Koko tries a ‘stunner’ but it was so badly executed that I’m not sure what it was. More jabs as Ali as backed up against the ropes, however as he swings a right, Ali ducks under and backdrops him over the top rope, therefore eliminating Koko. As Ali has a few choice words to him, he’s then tossed over by Seven and we’re down to three. Boudreaux makes his second appearance in the match and again looks good. He misses a splash in the corner, but lands a reverse DDT for the pin and now Seven is out of there. Belly to belly by Spellbinder followed by lariat for two. Shoulder tackle, he then picks Blade up for a bodyslam, but in the process his swinging legs take out referee William Gibson. Double clothesline and both men, along with the official, are down. As Blade gets to his feet, Seven is back out and nails him in the back with a Kendo stick. Spellbinder makes the cover just as Dave Brown says that we’re out of time for today and they’ll let us know the result of the match next week. Probably the longest Power Pro match all year, certainly the longest of what we’ve watched, and they run out of time with it going off air still in progress! In all honesty though, I’m pretty sure that was the finish and we only missed a couple of seconds of action. The interview segment setting this up was good, although some of the claims about being number one contender were a bit tenuous. Seeing him cut a decent promo too, adds fire to why neither WWF nor WCW took a shot on Ali; he’s muscular, has got a good look, can work, can talk, maybe he was a local boy who never wanted to leave Memphis? The match itself wasn’t up too much as the constant quick tags at the start didn’t really allow it to flow. Boudreaux and King were the standouts (and their section together at the start the highlight), and it felt like they tried to use King as the glue to hold it together. Koko’s best days are behind him and it was funny seeing Ali having to run slow at one point so that he wouldn’t catch up with him! I’m guessing he didn’t fancy jobbing either so that’s why they had over the top rope eliminations. Spellbinder was the worst of the six, just a big, jacked up stiff. King and Steel should provide some decent matches if previous form is to go by.

July 2000 CZW 1. Backseat Boyz vs Nick Mondo & Ric Blade (No Rules, No Limits) (No Rules, No Limits 7/22) 2. Justice Pain vs Zandig (No Rules, No Limits 7/22) ECW 1. Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger & C.W. Anderson vs Kid Kash & Roadkill & Danny Doring (Heatwave 7/16) 2. Steve Corino vs Jerry Lynn (Heatwave 7/16) 3. Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke (Houston, TX 7/28) 4. Steve Corino vs Kid Kash (Hardcore TV 7/2) 5. Little Guido vs Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Psicosis vs Mikey Whipwreck (Heatwave 7/16) 6. Tommy Dreamer & Yoshihiro Tajiri & Raven & Sandman vs Steve Corino & Jack Victory & Justin Credible & Rhino (Wichita, KS 7/1) 7. Rob Van Dam vs Steve Corino (Decatur, IL 7/21) 8. Christian York & Joey Matthews vs Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke (Decatur, IL 7/21) 9. Da Baldies (Angel & DeVito) vs Chris Chetti & Nova (Heatwave 7/16) 10. Rhino vs Sandman (Heatwave 7/16) 11. Sal E. Graziano vs Balls Mahoney (Heatwave 7/16) Indies 1. Super Dragon & Rising Son & Mr Excitement vs Ultra Taro Jr & Excalibur & Disco Machine (Elimination) (Revolution Pro 7/14) 2. Qeenan Creed vs Joey Matthews vs Adam Flash vs Chris Chetti vs Mikey Whipwreck vs Christian York (Elimination) (MCW Maryland 7/19) 3. Sex & Violence (CM Punk & Jason Kronnan) & Dave Prazak vs Dino & Bobby Bambino & Sherri Martel (Tables & Ladders, 2/3 falls) (MAW Summer Sizzler 2000 7/23) 4. Ricky Reyes vs Frankie Kazarian vs Sun Warrior (Elimination) (IWC SoCal 7/7) 5. Super Dragon vs Ultra Taro Jr (Revolution Pro 7/7) 6. Scoot Andrews & Buck Quartermaine vs Jet Jaguar & Mike Sullivan (IPW Hardcore Heat 7/15) 7. Curt Hennig vs Dennis Rodman (iGeneration 7/30) 8. Super Dragon & Rising Son vs Excalibur & Ultra Taro Jr (Revolution Pro 7/21) 9. Los Gringos (Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero) vs PHAT (Eric Matlock & Devon Willis) (IWC SoCal 7/4) 10. Greg Pawluk vs Tiger Khan vs Principal Richard Pound (Stampede 7/8) 11. Ricky Reyes vs Smooth Billy D (IWC SoCal 7/14) 12. Sabu vs Terry Funk (XPW Go Funk Yourself 7/22) 13. Bad Crew vs Da Hit Squad (Cage) (EWF 7/21) 14. Tatanka vs One Man Gang (iGeneration 7/30) NR - Octagoncito vs Pierrothito (WWC 27th Anniversario 7/16) IWA-MS 1. Suicide Kid vs Chris Hero (Survive This 7/12) 2. Chris Hero vs Colt Cabana (Cabana Surprise 7/26) 3. Corporal Robinson vs Cash Flo vs Mitch Page (Fans Bring the Weapons Elimination) (Cabana Surprise 7/26) 4. Chris Hero vs Harry Palmer (Heroes, Hurt & Hot Wax 7/1) 5. American Kickboxer vs Hy-Zaya (Shoot Style) (Survive This 7/12) 6. American Kickboxer vs Hy-Zaya (I Quit) (Cabana Surprise 7/26) 7. Corporal Robinson vs Blaze (Falls Count Anywhere, No Time Limit, Fans Bring the Weapons) (Survive This 7/12) 8. American Kickboxer vs Richard X (Shoot Style) (Heroes, Hurt & Hot Wax 7/1) 9. American Kickboxer vs Hy-Zaya (First Blood Lumberjack Strap) (Heroes, Hurt & Hot Wax 7/1) JAPW 1. Low Ki vs Nick Berk (7/14) 2. Low Ki vs Mark Reil (7/14) MCW 1. American Dragon vs Reckless Youth (7/22) 2. American Dragon vs Spanky (7/1) 3. American Dragon vs Reckless Youth (7/15) 4. Jerry Lawler vs K-Krush (7/1) 5. American Dragon vs Spanky (7/29) MPPW 1. Khan vs Derrick King vs Blade Boudreaux (7/15) 2. Wolfie D & Seven vs Spellbinder & Blade Boudreaux (Texas Tornado) (7/29) 3. Wolfie D vs Blade Boudreaux (7/22) 4. Ali & Spellbinder vs Wolfie D & Seven (7/22) NWA Wildside 1. A.J. Styles vs Jesse Taylor (7/29) 2. A.J. Styles vs White Trash (Hardcore) (7/1) OVW 1. Nick Dinsmore vs Flash Flanagan (7/8) 2. Flash Flanagan vs Trailer Park Trash (7/29) 3. Nick Dinsmore vs Rob Conway (7/15) 4. Nick Dinsmore vs Jason Lee (7/29) 5. Trailer Park Trash vs Jason Lee (7/22) NR - Flash Flanagan vs Rico Constantino (7/22) WCW ‘A’ Shows 1. Rey Misterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera vs Billy Kidman & Lance Storm (Nitro 7/3) 2. Jeff Jarrett vs Booker T (Bash at the Beach 7/9) 3. Billy Kidman vs Lance Storm (Thunder 7/12) 4. Rey Misterio Jr vs Disco Inferno vs Billy Kidman vs Lance Storm (Thunder 7/5) 5. Booker T vs Mike Awesome (Nitro 7/10) 6. Jeff Jarrett vs Billy Kidman (Nitro 7/10) 7. Bill Goldberg vs Scott Steiner (Nitro 7/18) 8. Booker T vs Jeff Jarrett (Thunder 7/5) 9. Lance Storm vs Mike Awesome (Nitro 7/18) 10. Jeff Jarrett vs Chris Kanyon vs Scott Steiner vs Bill Goldberg (Nitro 7/10) 11. Kevin Nash vs Bill Goldberg (Bash at the Beach 7/9) 12. Lt. Loco vs Lance Storm (WCW Nitro 7/31) 13. Shannon Moore & Shane Helms vs Rey Misterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera (Thunder 7/26) 14. Chris Kanyon & Lance Storm vs Buff Bagwell & Mike Awesome (Thunder 7/19) 15. Jeff Jarrett vs Chris Kanyon (Thunder 7/12) 16. Billy Kidman & Lance Storm vs Sean O’Haire & Mark Jindrak (Thunder 7/12) 17. Bill Goldberg vs Booker T (Nitro 7/24) 18. 3 Count vs Jung Dragons (Nitro 7/3) 19. Shane Douglas vs Billy Kidman (Viagra on a Pole) (Nitro 7/31) 20. Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire vs Vampiro & Great Muta (Thunder 7/26) 21. 3 Count & Tank Abbott vs Jung Dragons & Great Muta (Thunder 7/12) 22. Hulk Hogan vs Jeff Jarrett (Bash at the Beach 7/9)

June 2000 CZW 1. Ric Blade vs Justice Pain (Steel Cage Scaffold) (Caged to the End 6/10) 2. Ric Blade vs Trent Acid (They Said It Couldn’t Be Done... 6/25) ECW 1. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Steve Corino (TNN 6/23) 2. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs E.Z. Money (Kansas City, MO 6/30) Indies 1. Harry Smith vs T.J. Wilson (Stampede 6/17) 2. James Storm & Shane Eden vs Jeff Daniels & Chris Champion (Double First Blood) (Music City Tojo Yamamoto Memorial 2000 6/3) 3. Bryan Danielson vs Spanky (Loser Leaves Town Texas Death Cage) (TWA 6/24) 4. Reckless Youth vs Nick Berk (FWA 6/3) 5. Adam Pearce vs Dino Bambino (Cage) (ACW Beat the Heat 6/24) 6. Jet Jaguar vs Jamie-san vs Jeremy Lopez (IPW Jeff Peteron Benefit Show 6/10) 7. CM Punk vs Colt Cabana (SPCW 6/24) 8. Mike Roselli vs Brian Cox (Portland Total Chaos TV 6/00) 9. Adam Pearce vs Rob Norwood (ACW 6/3) 10. Bart Sawyer vs Buddy Wayne (Portland Total Chaos TV 6/00) 11. Chris Harris vs Air Paris (Music City Tojo Yamamoto Memorial 2000 6/3) 12. Buddy Wayne vs Chuck Gordy (Portland Total Chaos TV 6/00) IWA-MS 1. Corporal Robinson vs Cash Flo (6/14) 2. Tracey Smothers vs Chip Fairway (6/14) MCW 1. American Dragon vs Reckless Youth (6/24) 2. Jerry Lawler & Reckless Youth & Bitty Little vs K-Krush & Jim Neidhart & Curtis Hughes (6/17) 3. Jerry Lawler vs Reckless Youth (6/10) 4. Todd Morton vs Fabulous Rocker (Hardcore Ladder) (6/3) MPPW 1. Derrick King vs Alan Steel (6/17) 2. Wolfie D vs Spellbinder (6/10) 3. Wolfie D vs Blade Boudreaux (6/17) 4. Derrick King vs Blade Boudreaux vs Ali vs Seven vs Koko B. Ware vs Spellbinder (Elimination) (6/3) NWA Wildside 1. NWA Elite (A.J. Styles & Eddie Golden & Onyx & Bill Behrens) vs Team NCW (Stone Mountain & J.C. Dazz & David Young & Rick Michaels) (6/17) 2. Rock & Roll Express vs Bad Attitude (2/3 falls) (6/24) OVW 1. Rico Constantino & Russ McCullough & Chris Michaels vs Flash Flanagan & Robbie D & Jason Lee (6/10) 2. Damaja & Nick Dinsmore vs Rob Conway & Mr Black (6/24) WCW ‘A’ Shows 1. Bill Goldberg vs Jeff Jarrett vs Scott Steiner vs Kevin Nash (Nitro 6/26) 2. Hulk Hogan vs Billy Kidman (Great American Bash 6/11) 3. Jeff Jarrett & Mike Awesome vs Scott Steiner & Kevin Nash (Thunder 6/21) 4. Scott Steiner vs Jeff Jarrett (Nitro 6/19) 5. Hulk Hogan vs Jeff Jarrett (Nitro 6/12) 6. Rey Misterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire (Nitro 6/26) 7. Bill Goldberg vs Jim Duggan (Nitro 6/26) 8. Jeff Jarrett vs Billy Kidman (Thunder 6/14) 9. Bill Goldberg vs Tank Abbott (Nitro 6/5) 10. G.I. Bro vs Billy Kidman (Nitro 6/5) 11. Bill Goldberg vs Kevin Nash (Nitro 6/12) 12. Jeff Jarrett vs Kevin Nash (Great American Bash 6/11) 13. Ric Flair vs Vince Russo (Cage) (Nitro 6/5) 14. Vampiro vs Sting (Human Torch) (Great American Bash 6/11) 15. Ric & Reid Flair vs David Flair & Vince Russo (Nitro 6/12) WCW ‘C’ Shows 1. Chris Candido vs Christopher Daniels (Worldwide 6/17) 2. 3 Count vs Air Paris & Cassidy Riley & James Storm (Worldwide 6/24)

This episode opens recapping the closing moments of last week’s OVW title match where Flash defeated Nick Dinsmore for the belt. Jim Cornette talks about how these two trained together, and when they wrestle each other it’s like wrestling mirror images. Conway blocks an attempted hip toss so Dinsmore transitions to a Russian legsweep which gets him a two. Whip to the corner is reversed, and Dinsmore crashes chest first into the turnbuckles before Conway levels him with a clothesline. Boot to the mid-section, however ‘Mr Wrestling’ counters whatever he’s got planned with a modified powerbomb. He misses the ‘Lionsault’ as Conway moves out the way, but even if he hadn’t moved Dinsmore still wouldn’t have hit him as he positioned him too close to the ropes and badly overshot. Dinsmore ducks out the way of a reverse crossbody and Cornette talks about what an “almost Road Warrior like pop” that got! I think you need your ears testing Jimmy! Nice Northern Lights suplex for two. Big DDT by Conway, he heads upstairs for an ‘Iron Fist’ off the top, but Dinsmore catches and then plants him to the canvas. German suplex is blocked, and as Conway switches position looking for an ‘O’Connor roll’, Dinsmore drops down and Conway’s momentum sends him through the ropes to the outside. Flash shows up at ringside, and when Dinsmore suplexes Conway back in, he hooks his ankle, ‘the Iron Man’ falls on top and Phil Fair fast counts the pinfall. Match wasn’t bad, although it looked a touch too co-operative on occasions. That ‘Lionsault’ spot was bad though, I also wasn’t keen on how the match jumped from one man being in control, then the other, and so on. There was no real heat segment. Could’ve done without the fast count pin as Dinsmore getting screwed by Flash hooking his ankle was sufficient. Fair had called it straight down the middle up to that point and it would’ve been nice, if for once, we didn’t have a match with him behaving heelish in some way.

Quick recap of an interview from last week where Flash says that he doesn’t like Phil Fair, and to prove it KO’s him on the spot. Fair is the official for this match, and Cornette says how we just saw Flash alienate his only ally, a man who will also co-referee his title match at Summerblast. Flash is wearing a ‘Raw is War’ T-shirt which is a nice touch. There’s no hanging around with these two as they immediately start swinging punches. It’s nothing but punch, chop, kick and clothesline as they give off the impression that they really don’t like each other. Corny mentions how at Summerblast, it will be Flash’s OVW title on the line against Dinsmore’s WWF contract. Flash moves out the way of a charging TPT who ends up crotching himself on the middle turnbuckle. Hangman’s neckbreaker by Flash and he continues to put the boots to his opponent. Trash ducks a lariat only to run into a side kick. He starts to fire back and Flash backs off into the corner. As Fair gets between them to give Flash space, he reaches into his trunks and pulls out some brass knux. He swings, but Fair spots them on his hand and hooks his arm to stop him from connecting. Trash with a schoolboy and the official counts the three for the surprise win. Flash shoves down Fair after the match and is about to clock him with the knux when out sprints Nick Dinsmore for the save. Release German suplex, when from behind is Fair with a low blow on ‘Mr Wrestling’. Cornette then starts screaming that “it was a stinking plot all along”, and how he warned Fair that he was on probation and he would be fired if there were any more screwy decision. Chair shot to the head of Dinsmore, when of all the people to come to his aid is Robert Brisco WHO AGAIN DROPS FLASH! When he turns his attention to Fair, that gives Flash the opening, and he lays Brisco out with a DDT. The show goes off the air with the heels still beating on the pair of them and Cornette wondering if Fair and Flash have suckered Dinsmore out of his WWF contract. Short match, but one that felt pretty heated with the way Flash and TPT were just going toe to toe with each other. Surprise pinfall loss for Flash heading into Summerblast, although what wasn’t a surprise was that he and Fair were still in cahoots. Cornette was laying it on so thick about how Flash had lost his only ally that you were just waiting for something to happen to prove that he hadn’t. Just like last week, even though he quickly lays him out after, I hated Flash having to bump for Brisco again.

Lee gets the better of a knucklelock, even forcing a couple of pinfall attempts that Dinsmore has to bridge out of. Whip to the corner is reversed, but Dinsmore runs into Lee’s boot when he charges at him. Lee climbs the turnbuckle for a moonsault (thankfully Cornette has already given up on using the term ‘Lee-sault’), however Dinsmore dropkicks the ropes causing him to lose his balance. Belly to back superplex, but Lee lands on his feet as they continue to work a fast pace. Dinsmore counters a powerbomb attempt with a huracanrana, before Lee just launches him through the ropes to the outside. Robert Brisco joins Corny and Dean Hill at the commentary desk and says that because of what happened last week he won’t be refereeing today. His neck is still sore and he’s got to rest up, but he will be back at the Louisville Gardens on Friday night for Summerblast and hasn’t forgotten about Phil Fair either. Marvellous! Back to the action, Lee pancakes Dinsmore to the canvas and a Lionsault for two. Accidental clash of heads sees both men go down. As they both get to their feet, Dinsmore with a flying forearm followed by a missile dropkick. After a bit of jockeying for position he is able to hit the German suplex and get the win. Decent TV opener as they worked a quick pace here, which was almost all down to Lee. It was very rough in execution at times (again more so down to Lee) while I’m not convinced that Dinsmore is smooth enough to uphold this ‘Mr Wrestling’ nickname that he has. You often here Cornette talk about how he was saddled with the rotten ‘Eugene’ gimmick in the WWF, although without that he would’ve ended up like Brent Albright/Gunner Scott. There’s no charisma whatsoever, nothing special as a worker and he’s not a good talker either. If anything the guy overachieved on the WWF front.

This hasn’t even gone sixty seconds when Rico tries to land on his feet off a hip toss and falls to the canvas clutching at his knee. Flash hesitantly puts a few boots to him as he and referee Robert Brisco’s body language tries to portray this as being ‘unplanned’. Jim Cornette is conducting things from the commentary booth, telling Brisco that he’s got to make a judgment call on what to do and ordering him to get Flash away from Rico. Flash doesn’t respond to well to that and decks Brisco when he tries. He apparently wants Nick Dinsmore and Cornette screams for someone to go and get him. Literally within a matter of seconds he’s out and the two are trading blows. Corny is now screaming at the top of his voice for a referee, and trying to convince us (“I swear to you, I swear to you”) that they had no idea this was going to happen! Hmm, really Jim? The impromptu ‘match’ (the bell never rang to end Flash/Rico or rang to start this) goes only a shade longer than Flash/Constantino, ending when Flash hurls Dinsmore over the top rope for the DQ. The action continues though, and Flash with a somersault senton to the floor. The rest of the OVW officials are trying to help Brisco in putting a stop to this, but they should have thought better of that as all ended up getting assaulted by the wrestlers. Flash drills Dinsmore over the head with a chair and Brisco has finally had enough of being his punch bag, actually dropping him with a right hand. That’s the only shot he gets in mind as Flash then lays him out with a piledriver. More screaming from Cornette about how that move is illegal in OVW and Brisco could have a broken neck. Trash eventually puts a stop to this, with Flash fleeing the ring the moment he claps eyes on him. Way, way too rushed with so much happening in such a short space of time. Personally I would’ve ditched the impromptu match and just had Dinsmore saving Constantino from being attacked by Flash. You could then do the wild brawl with the refs being unable to separate the two and getting clocked along the way. I would’ve also closed the show that way, not had Trash be the one to run off Flash and certainly not had Flash bump for Robert Brisco! Dinsmore/ Flash is the feud, but how this ended I’m more interested in seeing Flash vs TPT and after that one minute of athletic action we got, would also rather see Flash vs Constantino.

Trash is the current OVW Hardcore champion, but there doesn’t appear to be a belt that goes along with that championship! As soon as the bell ring’s Jim Cornette and Dean Hill are joined by Tony Vanetti who’s a local radio DJ. The match itself is background while Cornette and Vanetti spend the next three minutes talking about the upcoming Louisville Gardens show, where Vanetti will be in Crash Holly’s corner when he takes on Trash. Lee even lands a superplex at one point which they ignore as the hard sell of this house show is clearly more important than what’s going on in the ring. The finish comes as Lee heads upstairs for a ‘Lee-sault’ (a Cornette trademark name that is even more awful than ‘Damaja splash’), but he’s too slow, Trash shoves him in the back and he crotches himself on the top turnbuckle. ‘Splash Mountain’ meets a powerbomb by TPT and he retains the Hardcore title. If Cornette doesn’t care enough to call the action here then why should I care about this?

We start with a recap from last week’s show, where Flash interrupted a Nick Dinsmore interview with Jim Cornette. Dinsmore was in the process of thanking the fans and Danny Davis as he’d just signed a contract with the WWF when Flash confronts him. Flash is pissed! He says how he tore the house down at the Louisville Gardens, nearly broke himself in half and stole the show, yet this suck up gets a contract? Cornette replies that maybe it’s because of his attitude, maybe it’s because he beat Bruce Prichard up the one time and that’s why he hasn’t got a contract. Flash talks about how he’s worked for eight years and while Dinsmore was still in High School chasing cheerleaders, he was sleeping in his car and paying his dues. All Dinsmore did was suck up to Danny Davis, it was his night and he stole his contract! As Cornette gets between them, Flash cheap shots Dinsmore and then bloodies him up with some brass knux while Corny and a couple of officials try to get him to stop. They don’t have much luck and Flash ends up stealing the OVW title. On to this week and Flash is in the ring with Dean Hill and wearing that stolen belt. Hill mentions how he lost via DQ to Nick Dinsmore at St. Therese’s Gym Tuesday night, and Flash responds that the disqualification rule is ancient and that every match should be held under ‘hardcore rules’ and claims that the only reason they’re not is because Danny Davis and Jim Cornette know he would be unstoppable. Robert Brisco screwed him on Tuesday night, Dutch Mantel screwed him at the Rockin’ Rumble, they’re doing everything they can to stop him from winning this title, but he has the belt so it belongs to him! Dinsmore joins them in the ring and Flash calls him a ‘puss’, which leads to Dinsmore slapping him across the face and then throwing him over the top rope to the outside. He picks up his OVW belt and challenges Flash to a no-DQ title match right now. Cornette is there trying to play peace maker and agrees to the match, but only after a commercial break! Dinsmore starts out all hot, hits a belly to belly suplex and then launches Flash over the top rope to the outside, emphasizing that the ‘no disqualification’ rule is in effect. Crossbody off the top to the floor. He whips Flash into the ring post and then backdrops him on the concrete. Back inside and a belly to belly superplex for two. Whip to the corner, but Flash moves out the way of the ‘Stinger splash’ and Dinsmore crashes into the turnbuckles. He collects a chair from ringside, sets it up and just drops his opponent onto it. Now it’s Flash’s turn to throw Dinsmore to the outside before nailing him with a triple jump plancha to the floor. Flash jabs the chair into his ribs and lands a triple jump legdrop for his first two of the match. Dinsmore starts to fire back and gets a near fall off a modified spinebuster. ‘O’Connor roll’, however as Flash kicks out, he sends Dinsmore straight into referee Robert Brisco knocking him down. Phil Fair takes it on himself to replace Brisco, German suplex by Dinsmore, but Fair’s count is ridiculously slow giving Flash ample time to escape. Brisco is up and attacks Fair, which sadly gets a bigger pop than anything in the match so far. As the officials are going at it, Flash clocks Dinsmore with some brass knux, but he kicks out of the pin with authority and Flash lands on Brisco KO’ing him for a second time. Northern lights suplex and Nick Dumayer slides into the ring and we have our third referee of the night. As Dumayer checks on Brisco, Flash shoves Dinsmore into him for yet another ref bump. He cracks Dinsmore over the back with a chair, rolls him up (pulling the trunks in the process) and Brisco comes around to count the three as we have ourselves a new OVW Heavyweight champion. Quick post-match interview where Flash again accuses Cornette of trying to screw him over, but he couldn’t keep him down and now he’s the new OVW champion. He thinks that when the WWF sees how he took care of one of their ‘boys’, they’ll have to give him a contract. Cornette then reminds him that he’s still got a title match against Nick Dinsmore at St. Therese’s on Tuesday, only this time he’s the champion and not the challenger. As they’ve been through all the refs and none of them could handle Dinsmore and him, he’s appointing The Damaja as the special guest official for the match. Good promo by Flash from the previous week kicking all of this off, talking about how he paid his dues, busts his ass every night but still gets overlooked for a WWF contract. He was much better than Dinsmore who was nowhere near as confident and stumbled over his words at one point. I liked the match, up to a point, as Flash adds something different to the rest of the top guys here. The likes of Dinsmore, Conway and Damaja are all solid, if not spectacular, but Flash has that spectacular in his arsenal. Of course where this match went to pot was with all the garbage involving the referees. Three ref bumps and a spot where two of them were fighting each other. The reaction that spot got too means that the audience here like this stuff and it’s probably not the last we’ve seen of it. Did Flash ever get a developmental deal or is it just storyline? If not, I can understand why he’s aggrieved seeing others get them and then comparing them to himself.

I’m guessing Damaja and Dinsmore have recently signed developmental deals, as for the first couple of minutes Cornette completely ignores what’s happening in the ring and talks about how it won’t be long before they’re in New York and how what’s going on in OVW is clearly important to the WWF. Dean Hill is finally able to get a word in and he at least tries to call the action before being interrupted by Cornette. Conway distracts the official and this gives Black the opportunity to throw Dinsmore over the top rope to the outside where Kenny Bolin and Jerome Croney gets some shots in on him. Slingshot back into the ring. Conway with an elbow to Damaja on the apron, but that’s just another way to distract the official, as when he stops him from coming in the ring, they again launch Dinsmore over the top to the outside. A second slingshot back in, although this time Dinsmore lands on his feet and catches Conway with a release German suplex. A pair of tags and Damaja takes it to Mr Black. ‘Damaja splash’ (Cornette’s awful name for a ‘Stinger splash’) in the corner and Conway saves his partner from the ‘Brain Damage’. All four men are in the ring and as the ref tries to get Dinsmore and Conway out of there, Croney comes off the top with a crossbody, only to hit Mr Black instead of his intended target the Damaja. ‘Brain Damage’ on Black and the official turns around to see the cover and count the three. Bolin Services attack the faces after the match and an almighty brawl (also including Trailer Park Trash, The Collector, Rico Constantino, Mark Henry and Russ McCullough) ensues as the show goes off the air. Two clean finishes in a row? What’s going on? Normal service is resumed with Cornette after the clear aberration a couple of weeks back mind. The guy talks non-stop through this and doesn’t come up for air! It’s bad enough for us as viewers, but how must poor Dean Hill feel having to spend an entire show next to him? Work and action was solid, although if only Cornette could tone it down by at least half!

‘Dirty’ Dutch Mantel location interview from Puerto Rico! He’s coming to OVW on 6/23 to be the special referee for a Hardcore title match at the Louisville Gardens between Trailer Park Trash and Flash. There’s disagreement between the officials over who will referee this one. Robert Brisco ends up decking Phil Fair and those two fight off up the aisle, leaving Nick Dumayer as the man in the middle. Flash jumps Michaels at the bell, although the Light Heavyweight champion’s speed is too much for him to handle at this time. Constantino escapes a Lee wristlock by running up the turnbuckles, back flipping off the top and then arm whipping his way out. Lionsault for two and Lee goes to the throat. He tags in ‘Slick’ Robbie D, but D would rather dance than follow up on his opponent, giving Rico the chance to make the tag to McCullough. Leap frog spot by D on big Russ which allows Cornette the opportunity to talk about his 48” vertical leap. He goes for it a second time, but McCullough catches and then plants him with an almighty sit out powerbomb. His team mates try to help out but they don’t fair well as Russ press slams Jason Lee and throws him at Flash. Spinning back kick by Constantino, however as he runs the ropes Flash hooks his ankle from the outside tripping him up. The heels go to work on Rico and Lee drops an elbow on him for a two count. Flash misses a legdrop off the middle and he makes the hot tag to Michaels. Huge backdrop on D and I like how they changed the camera angle to show the elevation they go on it. Flying back elbow on Lee, but Michaels is caught by ‘the Whipflash’ and McCullough is forced to break up the pin. All six men are now in the ring and Lee and D double team Rico until he’s able to get the upper hand on them. ‘Sudden Impact’ on Robbie D, elbow off the top by Michaels and that’s enough to put him away for the three. Wow, a clean win in OVW! Afterwards Bolin Services (including Mark Henry, The Collector, Rob Conway, Mr Black and more) attack the faces and clear the ring of everyone bar McCullough, putting a beat down on him and preventing anyone else from getting in there to help out. I had forgotten about all the nonsense with the referees in OVW. Cornette seems much more subdued here than he has done previously which is a huge plus. Add to that a clean finish and perhaps OVW is starting to turn the corner? Constantino again looks like he’s come along ten/fifteen years too late and could easily have been a big star in another era.

3 Count are accompanied by Tank Abbott, although the act seems more about him now and they’re pushed to the background, dancing behind while he sings. Double ladder match where above the ring are a gold record and also a recording contract; 3 Count are to collect their gold record, while the Dragons the recording contract (in order to prevent 3 Count from ever recording another album apparently!). Helms and Noble work really well together in the opening exchanges. After a back elbow by Helms, he signals to Shannon and they sprint off up the aisle to collect the ladders. The Dragons are in hot pursuit; Yang whips Moore into the guardrail with authority and then brings the first ladder back to the ring with him. It’s propped up in the corner and Yang backdrops Shannon into it. He bridges the ladder across the middle ropes, sits Moore on the top turnbuckle, and as he’s looking to superplex him whilst stood on the ladder, Shane swipes a leg and Yang crotches himself on one of the rungs. 3 Count stacks the Dragons up on the horizontal ladder, and an assisted splash by Shannon onto all three. Helms makes a first attempt to try and retrieve the gold record, but he’s met on the ladder by Kaz. Karagias and Yang get underneath their opposition, sitting them on their shoulders, and stereo springboard ‘Doomsday Devices’ by Moore and Jamie-san. Huge crossbody off the top of the ladder to the arena floor by Noble. The Dragons take a great series of bumps off the ladder as they try to grab the recording contract, with Helms’ leaping swinging neckbreaker on Jamie, and Karagias’ delayed vertical suplex on Kaz being the highlights. Evan with a scoop powerslam to Kaz onto the ladder as they all continue to put their bodies on the line. Double team teeter totter/Russian leg sweep spot on Noble. Asai moonsault to the floor by Yang is only just caught by the camera. Jamie with a top rope rana on Shannon, and Kaz and Yang come off the ladders with a pair of splashes onto him. Noble collects the gold record, but as he’s descending the ladder, 3 Count dropkick it, he falls and Tank snatches it from him. Kaz and Yang uses the ladders as weapons, and Jamie with a legdrop off the top to Karagias as he’s sandwiched between one of them. Sit out powerbomb off the ladder on Moore. As Helms and Kaz climb separate ladders, Tank enters the ring and pushes both of them over. He then orders Karagias to retrieve the recording contract, which he does, and 3 Count come out on top. Evan passes the contract to Tank while he climbs down, but Tank leaves on his own with both that and the gold record while 3 Count are left alone in the ring. Whatever the rules were, they weren’t what Tony Schiavone explained at the start of the match that’s for sure! I said at the onset that the 3 Count/Tank Abbott act seems more about Tank than 3 Count, and I’m even more convinced that’s the case after watching the match. Tank was way too animated, up on the apron as opposed to the floor, and distracting from the in ring action. The huge plus about him doing a runner with the record and contract is that this should be the end for the group. All six worked ridiculously hard here, and although it’s almost wrong to single anyone out, special props especially to Jamie Noble and Shane Helms. Was it contrived at times? Yeah, but it was still a very fun match, and every one of them should be commended for their efforts and bringing some new and innovative stuff to the ‘ladder match’ gimmick.

It’s unibrow Matt Stryker! The Filthy Animals little catchphrase routine gets more cringe worthy every time I see it. Stryker gets the better of a shoulder tackle and then drops Rey with a high knee. He backdrops him over the top rope, however Rey lands on the apron and tags Disco. Drop toe hold by him, followed by a springboard legdrop to the back of the neck from Rey. Reverse atomic drop on Harris and Disco with a snapmare for two. Harris blocks the hip toss and counters with a swinging neckbreaker. Dropkick and Rey is forced to break up the pin. Stryker with an inverted bodyslam (slamming Disco chest first), only to miss the moonsault as Disco moves out the way. Les Thatcher, Heartland Wrestling Association reference from Mike Tenay when talking about Stryker! Hot tag to Rey who levels Stryker with a spinning heel kick and then takes out Harris with an ‘X-Factor’ as he continues to steal moves from X-Pac. A pair of ‘bronco busters’, or ‘stocking stuffers’ as Konan calls them, and Rey with a legdrop off the top to the groin of Stryker for the win. Not a full on squash as Harris and Stryker got in more offense than I expected, but not far off.

Lance informs everyone that the flag match is non-title because he refuses to defend the ‘Canadian Heavyweight title’ on US soil! Awesome sprints to the ring with Mighty Heidi trailing behind. Storm goes to backdrop a charging Awesome over the top to the outside, however he lands on the apron and then hot shots Lance on the top rope. Awesome drags him under the ropes to the outside, but Storm reverses the whip into the guard rail. Running chair shot, only for Awesome to get a forearm up and the chair goes crashing into Lance’s own head. Back inside, he whips Storm into the turnbuckles and a huge running lariat in the corner. Awesome instructs Heidi to go and grab the US flag, while at the same time he comes off the top with a big splash. He goes to collect the flag off her, but she hits him over the head with it. Fuck, does anyone not turn in this company? Heidi then takes an eternity to climb over the turnbuckles before taking out Awesome with a flying clothesline off the middle. Storm applies the single leg crab as Heidi collects the Canadian flag and passes it to Lance for the win. Heidi then rips off her top to reveal a ‘Canadian and Proud of it’ T-shirt. I’m not too sure why I would want to see these two wrestle again at New Blood Rising after this match aired on TV for free and went all of three minutes before Storm took the win? Should I be so outraged at Heidi’s turn that I would want to pay to see Awesome get some revenge? Nah, you’re alright! Compared to Judy Bagwell, Mighty Heidi actually looks fairly athletic though. A new low for Storm’s WCW run here.

The final title defence for Lance, this time defending his ‘Canadian Heavyweight title’ against ‘The Cat’. Storm again wants the Canadian national anthem played, but the Commissioner uses his stroke to get it turned off before it’s really began. A backbreaker stuns ‘the Cat’, but he reverses an Irish whip and floors Storm with a kick to the chest. He starts to unload with a series of punches in the corner, only for Lance to pick him up and hit a reverse atomic drop. Flying heel kick then floors the challenger as Storm gets a two. Low blow by ‘the Cat’ and a double thrust to the throat. A silly looking elbow drop for a two of his own. ‘The Cat’ tosses Storm to the outside, however Lance reverses the whip to the guardrail and drops him with a superkick. Springboard dropkick for another near fall. Storm with a whip to the corner, this time though it’s ‘the Cat’ who reverses it and Lance goes chest first into the turnbuckles. ‘Feliner kick’ but Storm collides with the official, taking him out. Even though he can see the referee is down, ‘the Cat’ covers Lance anyway. The Great Muta is in the ring and nails the Commissioner with a spinning kick and a dragon screw leg whip. Storm sees what’s gone on and quickly goes to work on that knee before slapping on his third single leg crab of the night for the tap. Although two of the wins weren’t the cleanest, it’s clear that Storm has got his backers with the three title belts and the three wins in the one night. My least favourite match of the three, although that’s more to do with whom his opponent is, and a Muta/Cat feud doesn’t instil me with much enthusiasm when you consider the former’s efforts in recent matches. The ref bump at least looked (slightly) more believable than the one in the Norman Smiley bout!

Awesome is accompanied by one of ‘his bigger fans’ as Tony Schiavone refers to her. He cuts a cringe worthy promo about how everyone knows who he is and knows what he likes “so if you’re pleasantly plump and large and in charge, the Fat Chick Thriller is here to give you a dose of the old Vitamin P...and the P stands for passion baby!” He then says how Kanyon stuck his nose in the wrong place before and that he made a promise to the lovely Judy Bagwell, so tells Kanyon to get out here so they can fight. Awesome with a shoulder tackle and a big clothesline on ‘Positively’ Kanyon. Legdrop across the chest for an early two. He whips Kanyon into the turnbuckles and a huge running splash. Kanyon counters the punches in the corner with a low blow, and then with Awesome sat on his shoulders, dumps him face first to the canvas. He picks up a chair from ringside, but Charles Robinson snatches it off him and throws it to the floor. ‘Alabama slam’ into a powerbomb for two, however he’s not happy with the count, grabbing Robinson around the neck. A neckbreaker garners another near fall, but he again seems to hold Robinson responsible and decks him with a right hand. Kanyon takes out more of his frustrations on innocent bystanders, with a pair of ‘Kanyon cutters’ on two ringside photographers, and a further one on a member of the ring crew. As he attacks one of the cameramen some more, out jogs Judy Bagwell who clocks him with her loaded purse. Awesome drags Kanyon into the ring and a running ‘Awesome Bomb’ gets him the win. Another quick match, which seems to be the theme for this episode of Thunder. I have to wonder what Awesome was thinking when creative gave him this ‘Fat Chick Thriller’ gimmick, after previously being the ‘Career Killer’. No idea or reasoning behind Kanyon leaving his opponent to start giving ‘Kanyon Cutters’ to photographers and the like, while Judy Bagwell’s brick that was in her handbag looks like it was made out of rubber or some other flimsy material.

Big Vito is on commentary and he wants the Hardcore title back. He claims to have gotten his hands on the Canadian rulebook through some contacts he’s got, has read it, and assures us that everything is going to be okay. The Canadian national anthem is interrupted by an American flag waving Norman Smiley, yup a Brit waving the US flag! Lance has got his rulebook out again, and according to it, the ‘Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title’ is to be defended with no outside materials coming into play, hand to hand combat only, and the only way to win the title is via submission. Nice opening as they trade and work things around a wristlock. Stevie Ray mentions how Norman was a World champion in Mexico, and Vito namedrops EMLL when Stevie can’t remember the name of the promotion. A series of Guerrero/Malenko pinfall attempts and reversals, before Norman drops his opponent with a back elbow. Smiley teases ‘the Wiggle’ for too long and Lance with a jawbreaker followed by a dropkick. A vertical suplex is blocked and Norman responds with a delayed one of his own. Leglock/kneebar as Storm grabs the ropes for the break. Modified double underhook suplex, he goes for a splash, but Lance gets his knees up. Norman reverses the go behind and now he can finally ‘wiggle’! Lance is backed into a corner and gets a foot up on the charging Smiley. An awful ref bump sees Norman stagger backwards and elbow the official in the chest who then starts clutching at his face. With him ‘not being able to see’, Lance grabs the US flag and hits Norman in the back of the knee with it. Single leg crab and he retains his second title. Storm keeps the submission locked in and Vito jumps in the ring for the save, but Lance flees before he can get his hands on him, I really liked the opening to this with the wrestling and the two could have a heck of a straight up match if given the time. This went less than three and a half minutes though, which I guess is a by-product of one of the participants having to wrestle three times on the one show. The ref bump looked dreadful, but a cool touch with Storm being the one to break his own rules by using the ‘outside materials’ on his way to victory.

We get a recap of the ‘Viagra on a Pole’ match from Monday which is something I’m in no hurry to see again! As Skipper is playing to the crowd on the arena floor, Kidman nails him with a baseball slide dropkick. He tosses him inside and takes him down with a slingshot headscissors. Running crossbody off the ropes, however Skipper bridges under it with his ‘matrix manoeuvre’. Elix charges at Kidman who backdrops him over the top rope to the outside, but in the same motion, Skipper grabs Kidman’s head and clotheslines him on the top rope. Twisting slingshot headscissors by Skipper. Double axe handle off the top, however Kidman gets in first with a dropkick. Shane Douglas and Torrie Wilson head to the ring and Kidman with a short powerbomb. Torrie distracts the official and Rick Cornell/Reno hops the guardrail, attacks Kidman from behind and drops him with his ‘Roll the Dice’ finisher. As he mounts and unloads on him, Shane Douglas is in to drag him off. Skipper then hits ‘the Overdrive’ for the upset win. Elix Skipper had changed his name from ‘Skip Over’, which is a definite change for the better. He tries a lot of innovative stuff, but none of it is crisp or executed cleanly and all looks rather rough and raggedy. In addition, just like his previous name, his ring wear too could do with an overhaul. Nice to see Rick Cornell debut as WCW continues to unleash those Power Plant graduates, although Shane Douglas being the one to drag him off Kidman makes little sense at the moment.

Lance Storm makes his way to the ring and he’s carrying all three of his titles with him. He welcomes everyone to ‘World Canadian Wrestling’ and claims that the company had tried to keep him down, but he’s risen above it through honour and dignity! Tony Schiavone then has a funny line about how he’s only been in WCW for a few weeks and that’s not really long enough for them to keep him down! In accordance with the Canadian metric system, Storm then renames the Cruiserweight title the ‘Canadian 100kg and under championship’. He’s interrupted by ‘Commissioner Cat’ who says that since Lance is such a bad man, why doesn’t he put his title on the line tonight? When he questions “which one?”, ‘the Cat’ tells him to put all three of them on the line. The people want to see title matches and he’s going to give them three title matches against three different opponents; for the Cruiserweight title he’ll face “Juvi the Juice”, for the Hardcore title, Norman Smiley, and for the US title he’ll take on a great American, a bad man, ‘the Cat’ himself. The first defence is happening right now and the Filthy Animals make their entrance. Tygress looks great in the silhouette by the way and I might have actually found her purpose. Although to be fair when the curtain drops, she looks pretty great out of silhouette too! With all the Animals in the ring, Storm hands referee Billy Silverman a booklet. Dave Penzer then informs everyone that according to Canadian rules, all matches in the ‘100kg and under division’ are to be contested in a scientific environment, which means no other persons are to be present at ringside and the Filthy Animals are therefore barred from being in Juvi’s corner. As the Animals reluctantly return to the dressing room, Juvi is levelled from behind by Storm. Backbreaker, Irish whip, however as he goes to press Juvi, ‘the Juice’ nails him with a dropkick. Spinning heel kick followed by a headscissors takedown. ‘Juvi Driver’, but Storm rolls to the outside before he can go for the pin. There’s no escape though as Juvi with a flip dive to the floor. He throws Storm back inside, but misses a crossbody off the top. Lance backdrops Juvi over the top rope, however ‘the Juice’ lands on the apron and then clotheslines Storm on the top rope. Springboard splash back in side for two. Frankensteiner off the top and Lance gets his shoulder up at the last split second. Whip to the corner, but Storm sidesteps the charging ‘Juice’ who goes crashing into the turnbuckles. Release German suplex, however Juvi lands on his feet and stuns Lance with a wheelbarrow into a bulldog. Storm avoids the 450 but Juvi sticks the landing anyway. ‘Death Valley Driver’ for his closest near fall yet. He goes for another headscissors takedown, this time though Storm pancakes him to the canvas and transitions to the single leg crab for the submission win. I’m starting to warm to Lance after being initially cold on his heel stuff. The referring to the Canadian rulebook to get rid of the Filthy Animals made me laugh, and there was the additional bonus that we didn’t have to listen to Konan run through his catchphrases! Decent TV match, if on the short side, with the crowd getting into Juvi’s near falls towards the end of things.

As ‘the Franchise’ makes his entrance with Torrie we gets clips of Kidman and Torrie’s sex tape from Nitro, and then of he and Torrie’s sex tape from Thunder. Ol’ Shane had a few problems in the bedroom department though that led to this ‘Viagra on a Pole’ match. Kidman with a headscissors takedown. Knee to the mid-section by ‘the Franchise’ followed by a knee lift. He charges at Kidman who then backdrops him over the top rope to the floor. Baseball slide dropkick and Douglas goes crashing into the guardrail. Huge crossbody back into the ring and the ref starts to count a pin until he remembers that you can only win the match by retrieving the bottle of Viagra down from the pole! Torrie hooks Kidman’s ankle tripping him, and Douglas with a hotshot. Kidman blocks ‘the Franchiser’ with a series of side headbutts and then whips his opponent chest first into the corner. A back bodydrop is telegraphed and Douglas hits the ‘Pittsburgh Plunge’. He starts to climb the pole, however Kidman is back to his feet and plants him with a powerbomb. Now it’s his turn to climb, but Douglas with a belly to back suplex. Bulldog off the turnbuckles and Torrie is up on the apron trying to distract him. The ref goes over to try and get her down, while in the meantime Kidman with a ‘Tomakaze’. He climbs the pole and grabs the Viagra, but Douglas with ‘the Franchiser’ as soon as he drops back down to the ring. Shane picks up the bottle, the official turns around, sees him with it and declares him the winner. Douglas looked bad here, slow and as though he was wading through treacle when he was moving. Madden spent the duration of the match trying to make jokes, the majority of which involved him mentioning a legendary wrestler (Andre the Giant, Lou Thesz, Giant Baba etc.) and then saying how they competed in a ‘Viagra on a pole’ match. Yawn! Finish was terrible with the ref spending an eternity with Torrie on the apron and then turning around the moment had snatched the bottle off Kidman. This month has been a massive improvement on the previous three when it comes to match quality, although this one harkened back to the darkest days of Vince Russo.

Kazarian is the fan favourite here, while ‘the Golden One’ Josh Galaxy is someone new to me. They work the opening around a hammerlock, Galaxy with a side headlock, and even though Kazarian shoves him off, Galaxy gets the better of the shoulder tackle. Kazarian barely manages a nip up so Golden has to delay and wait slightly before the next spot. A rough looking arm drag from ‘the Future’, followed by a big running splash in the corner. Golden reverses an Irish whip and Kazarian takes a bump over the top turnbuckle to the outside (although he clearly jumps and launches himself over). The action continues on the arena floor, but as this is being filmed by one static hard camera focusing on the ring, we don’t see any of it. Kazarian almost loses his balance on a springboard back in, having to grab the top rope, only for Galaxy to level him with a spear as he’s mid-air for a two. Frankie ducks a clothesline, jumps to the second rope and springs backwards with a flying elbow. Big splash off the top, but Galaxy is able to reach the ropes to stop the count. Slingshot legdrop for two. Galaxy backdrops Kazarian over the top, however he lands on the apron and a slingshot DDT (which he doesn’t quite get all of) back into the ring for another two. The ‘Golden One’ reverses an Irish whip, keeps hold of the arm and hits a ‘Downward Spiral’ as the two counts continue. Elbow off the middle and he still can’t put Frankie away. Boot to the mid-section by Kazarian, and as Galaxy is hunched over, a somersault legdrop to the back of his head. A couple of guys then show up at ringside, and as the one distracts the official, the other enters the ring and lays out ‘the Future’ with a modified sit-out powerbomb. He puts Galaxy on top, but Frankie kicks out at the last split second, getting a good reaction from the crowd in the process. Another random dude is now at ringside, he goes to hit Kazarian, but he moves and clocks Galaxy instead. Frankie slugs the random, covers Galaxy, and the ref (who was being distracted again) turns around to count the three. The heels jump Kazarian after the match (including a nice Russian legsweep off the middle as he’s celebrating to the crowd) and I think they set up a match for the following week, although the audio quality on the mic is pretty bad that it’s difficult to fully make out what they’re saying. Another federation that I haven’t heard of before, and the venue is possibly a converted garage with only a small crowd in attendance. Galaxy and Kazarian are both real green here. There’s not much in the way of transitions, while there’s a lot of roughness in their execution with moves not executed crisply or smoothly. Bar that one near fall which the crowd brought, they also do that annoying thing of always kicking out of pins at two. It’s an interesting first look at Kazarian, and while you can clearly see he’s athletic, I wouldn’t go as far as to say you can see the potential of him being a good worker there at this point.

Surprisingly, the first move of the match is a go-behind into full nelson which Cox easily escapes from. He slaps on one of his own and Sawyer slowly worms his way over to the ropes. Still in the full nelson, he walks his legs up the ropes so he’s in a seated position (you know what’s coming next!), the ref tells Cox to break, he lets go, and ‘not so Smart Bart’ falls to the canvas. Hip toss followed by a poor looking lariat and Sawyer rolls under the bottom rope to the outside. The action is tricky to follow from here as we regularly cut to shots of the crowd (some in black and white, some in colour) in-between the action. Almost certainly parts of the match have been clipped (only slightly at times), and these shots of the crowd are so ‘you don’t notice’. This degenerates into your stereotypical hardcore plunder of hitting each other over the head with trash cans and steel chairs. The match is eventually ruled a no-contest with the official throwing it out after two more chair shots by Cox to Sawyer. As he’s explaining that to him, Sawyer cheap shots Cox over the head with a chair before sprinting off up the aisle. Sawyer has moments where he looks pretty entertaining with his facials, selling and that final weasley chair shot, but still this wasn’t very good. According to the commentators he apparently gets busted open during the match too, although I couldn’t see anything. No rating from me due to the clipping, but even if we had the full unedited version it wouldn’t have made a difference.

Clips from last week’s show, where Wolfie D clocked Randy Hales in the head with the Power Pro belt and Ali came to Hales’ rescue. It sounds like the title ended up being held up, and today Ali is to face an opponent of Brandon Baxter’s choosing for the belt. As Dave and Corey speculate on who it may be, Baxter joins them and says how when he claimed to be at the hotel earlier, that was a lie. He went and bailed the rightful champion out of jail, the man who’s going to beat Ali and regain what is rightfully his, Wolfie D. Ali and Wolfie trade blows in the middle of the ring, but with Ali coming out on top, Wolfie goes to the eyes. Ali ducks a clothesline and nails Wolfie with a flying forearm. He whips him from post to post, before a big press slam. ‘Torture Rack’ and Wolfie pulls something out of his shorts which he hits Ali with to escape. Wolfie whips him into the turnbuckles and a high running knee in the corner. He signals for the spinning powerbomb, but Ali counters with a backdrop, only to then hit just canvas on his follow up knee drop. Wolfie grabs a chair from outside, however that works against him as Ali repeatedly rams him head into it. Scoop powerslam for two. A sort of belly to belly off the top, but Ali throws Wolfie into the official knocking him down. ‘Ali Driver’, he drags the groggy referee over who counts the three, and Ali is once again the Power Pro champion. Baxter attacks Ali from behind, but after his shots have no effect, Wolfie wallops him with his shin guard. The two of them put the boots to Ali and then Baxter raises Wolfie’s hand, at which point the official hands Wolfie the title belt thinking he must’ve won the match, and they get out of their quickly before he realises his mistake. Absolutely hated the ending to this. It’s saying something when you’re watching a match and you think “this isn’t ending cleanly”, and then it does, but they were just messing with you because the screw job is coming post-match instead! If the official didn’t know who won the match, then how the fuck did he know to count to three? If he knew to count to three surely he can tell the difference between Ali and Wolfie? These unsatisfactory finished are becoming all to common in Power Pro.