GSR

He never. It was a scam from the start.

Kurt says on his pre-match walk to the ring how it’s been too long since he last had WWF gold strapped around his waist, and while the people here don’t have much to live for, the good news for them though is that they’ll remember this night forever because they will witness the crowning of a new Intercontinental champion! Angle with an arm drag and a go behind as he looks to bully and rush Benoit in the opening moments. Release overhead belly to belly. Another overhead throw followed by a clothesline for the first two of the match. Whip to the corner, but as he charges he runs into a Benoit back elbow. A pair of knife edge chops and a series of kicks to the mid-section. As referee Jack Doan admonishes ‘the Crippler’, big double leg takedown by Angle. Nice Judo throw, which I think is a new addition to his arsenal. Irish whip is reversed and Benoit with a huge elbow smash. A stiff looking lariat for two, and a lovely German suplex for the closest fall yet. ‘The Crippler’ heads upstairs, but Angle meets him and hits a belly to belly off the top. With both men down on the canvas, out walks a chair wielding Bob Holly. When Angle gets back to his feet, he clocks him over the head with it for the DQ. He goes to blitz Benoit with it too, but ‘the Crippler’ gets in their first with a kick to the stomach, swipes it away and then cracks ‘Hardcore’ with it leaving him laying. So its Benoit vs Holly for the IC title on Raw.

Earlier in the night Edge & Christian issued an open challenge to any team in the WWF that they hadn’t already beaten. Christian says how they’re severely lacking in competition and wondered whatever happened to the Moondogs? As they ponder how many Doinks there are and whether that includes Dinks, the challenge is answered by Eddy Guerrero and Chyna. Eddy takes Edge down, scrapes his boot across his face and then tags in Chyna for a double suplex. Slingshot senton by Guerrero, and as Christian has his back to the action arguing with the crowd, he dropkicks him sending him crashing to the arena floor. Belly to back suplex on Edge for two. He reverses the Irish whip and Christian pulls down the top rope causing Eddy to tumble over it and to the outside. Eddy counters the attempted powerbomb with a sunset flip and hits a neckbreaker. Hot tag to Chyna who drops the champs with forearms. Powerbomb on Christian. Edge looks for the Scott Steiner-style frankensteiner, but she counters that with a great sit-out powerbomb, forcing Christian to break up the pin in order to save his partner. Double low blow, handspring elbow to Christian, she goes to repeat it on Edge, but he levels her with a spear after the cartwheel. Christian tosses Eddy out of the ring to the floor and a double team side slam on Chyna. As the pair of them continue to beat on her, Edge gives referee Jimmy Korderas a shove and that’s enough for the DQ. Eddy comes to his partner’s aid and they clear the ring of the champions. I’ve been critical of Chyna in what I’ve seen of her during this project, but it’s fair to say the best part of the match was after Eddy’s hot tag and she’s taking it to Edge & Christian. Her forearms looked good for a change and the frankensteiner into a sit-out powerbomb and spear spots were tremendous. A hot crowd too who were super into her and everything she did.

Number one contender’s match for the Intercontinental championship, with the winner getting a title match against the champion Monday night on Raw. Jericho is running through his catchphrases when he’s interrupted by Bob Holly’s music. Venis and Y2J team up on Holly early, taking it in turns to light up his chest with knife edge chops. Double backdrop and as Venis makes the cover, Jericho pulls him off. The two of them start trading punches and so much for that short lived unison! Holly nails Val in the back, and he collides with Y2J sending him tumbling out of the ring. Reverse atomic drop, a big powerbomb and Jericho is back just in time to break up the three count. He returns to blistering Holly with those chops and a bit of ground and pound. Venis tosses Jericho to the outside, hooks ‘Hardcore’ with a Fisherman suplex, but Y2J grabs his leg from the arena floor and pulls him out to join him. Baseball slide dropkick by Holly. Val reverses a whip into the ring post and Holly is the one who goes flying into it. Jericho with some knee strikes before throwing Venis back into the ring. Missile dropkick for two. Holly gets a bit of revenge, slapping Y2J’s chest, when from behind, Val catches him with a belly to back suplex for a near fall. Reverse crossbody off the middle by Jericho, Val drops an elbow, but Y2J moves and he hits ‘Hardcore’ instead. Bulldog on Venis, and while he’s trying to regain his bearings on the apron, Jericho levels him with a springboard dropkick. Huracanrana by Holly is blocked and (with him on his shoulders) Y2J walks over to the ropes for a rope assisted ‘Walls of Jericho’ (think an inverted Tarantula). A Venis legdrop puts a stop to that and he follows up with a running lariat in the corner. ‘Blue Thunder Driver’ for two. Jericho ducks the clothesline and Val’s dropkick doesn’t connect as he holds on to the ropes. Lionsault, however Holly with an ‘Alabama Jam’ to the back of Jericho’s neck and he covers Venis himself for the win and the IC title shot. Good match with Venis and Holly both working hard and making the most of this little push that they’re getting; almost as if they were trying to show that they’re more than capable of holding their own and hanging with the big boys. Pretty physical in places with the way they were laying those chops in and really liked that rope assisted ‘Walls’. Surprise finish as well with Holly grabbing the win (and even busting out an ‘Alabama Jam’ in the process).

In a battle of unoriginal nicknames, we have Chuck ‘Bam Bam’ Gordy taking on ‘Crusher’ Mark Large (who appears to be a firm favourite of the Portland faithful). The cameras cut to a rather vocal section of the crowd, one of whom is Chael Sonnen! Large escapes a hammerlock with a drop toe hold, and clasps on an ankle lock forcing Gordy to clamber to the ropes for the break. He slaps on a rear chinlock, digging his knee into ‘Bam Bam’s’ back for added pressure. Gordy with an arm wringer, from where he transitions to a cross armbar, but ‘the Crusher’ is able to reverse that into a leglock submission and ‘Bam Bam’ again goes to the ropes. He offers him his hand, which Large foolishly accepts, and Chuck is straight in with a boot to the mid-section. Whip to the turnbuckles and a running lariat in the corner. He tries to repeat it, this time though Large gets a foot up (I think, as the camera cuts to a woman at ringside), followed by a sunset flip off the middle for two. Gordy counters the piledriver with a backdrop, but very quickly ‘the Crusher’ is right back on him. As Large runs the ropes, Big Daddy Thunder (Gordy’s second) hooks his ankles from the outside. Gordy then whips Large into the official, knocking him down, as his back is turned and he’s having words with Thunder. With the ref out of it, the ‘Big Daddy’ enters the ring and goes to hit Large with a chair, but he moves and nails Gordy instead. Weirdly, after the way you’re conditioned to think what should happen next, he then cracks Large over the head, and with both of them KO’d, puts Gordy on top of his opponent. Thunder throws some water on the ref to wake him up and he comes around to count the fall. This is the third Portland match I’ve watched, and can’t say any have left a positive lasting impression on me. This is probably the best of the three, but that’s very faint praise indeed.

Loser of the match is to get their hair shaved in the middle of the ring, while in the introductions we find out that someone called Bill Prescott (who I think might be cornering Two Eagles) has put his hair on the line too. Sawyer jumps Two Eagles while he’s taking off is top and uses his own shirt to choke him with. Billy does a little war dance and Bart just steps out the ring. Double axe handle off the apron to the floor by Two Eagles. Back inside and a tomahawk chop followed by another war dance. Big splash off the top, but instead of going for the pin, he picks his opponent up to dish out some more punishment. Sawyer reverses the Irish whip and Two Eagles crashes into the referee. ‘Smart Bart’ pulls a chain out of his trunks, wraps it around his fist and KO’s Billy. The groggy official then counts the three with Sawyer getting the win. As he’s about to start shaving some heads, out and into the ring walk the promoters and a couple of other folk. They find the chain on Sawyer and then all grab hold of him so that Two Eagles can shave his head instead. This was so dated. WWC at least has those super hot, heated crowds, Portland doesn’t have anything of the sort. The action in this was like something out of the 1970s, complete with hideous ending where the match stipulation isn’t honoured and the guy who won the match ends up losing his hair. A Cornette Smoky Mountain Wrestling finish that’s for sure!

Maniac has got a glorious mullet along with an almighty gut. Da Hit Squad isn’t happy with all the noise the crowd are making, so leave the ring and head back towards the dressing room. The official calls for the bell to get the contest underway and immediately starts counting them out of the ring. DHS sprint back, only just beating the ten, but then slide straight out to the floor again. Lots of stalling here. They complain to the referee about something, and we get the 2000 favourite spot of the official shoving the wrestlers and DHS BUMPING FOR HIM! Maniac gets the better of a shoulder tackle and Monsta Mack tags out to give Mafia a shot. He fares no better, and after Thunder takes them both down with hip tosses, DHS are back on the outside trying to regroup. Plenty of quick tags by Thunder and the Maniac as they go to work on Mafia’s left arm, although there’s not much variety as they primarily stick to arm wringers. Mafia’s able to back Thunder into his own corner, where after distracting the official, Mack chokes him behind his back. Double team stun gun across the top rope. Spinebuster by Mack for two, followed by a huge double gorilla press slam where they drop Thunder face first to the canvas. Mafia with a front chancery, and as Thunder slowly starts to drive him backwards, Mack distracts the referee and he doesn’t see the tag. Maniac argues his case, but that just gives DHS the opportunity to do some more double teaming while the official is side-tracked. A pair of real light lariats for another two count. Thunder ducks the double clothesline and comes back with one of his own (resulting in some rather OTT selling from Mafia). Hot-ish tag as DHS then bump and feed for the Maniac. All four men are in the ring, when DHS reverse the double Irish whip and Maniac and Thunder crash into one another. Big slam on the Metal Maniac, stereo top rope headbutts off opposite turnbuckles and DHS get the win. I almost feel as though you have to watch this one in a vacuum, go in completely open minded and you’ll enjoy the ride. If you’re expecting the stiff, bomb throwing, ass kicking JAPW Da Hit Squad, you’re going to be in for a surprise. They stall, they stooge and they bump (even for the referee) which considering the opposition (who are both old and out of shape) is the best way to work this. I’d never seen DHS work this way before, so this is a huge plus in showing their versatility. Much better and more fun than I expected when I first laid eyes on Thunder and Maniac.

Eddy and Chyna are out first and JR suggests that referee Jack Doan should check out those roses that Chyna is carrying, as it wasn’t that long ago she stuck a pipe in some and used it as an offensive weapon. This gets underway before the bell has rung, and before Malenko has even made in into the ring, as Saturn and Guerrero exchange blows. Double team backbreaker/top rope knee drop by Saturn and Malenko as it looks as though they’re going to work together here. The unison doesn’t last for long mind, as after a Saturn elbow smash to Eddy in the corner, he then levels Malenko with a clothesline. Leg lariat by Malenko, and as these two go at it, it gives Eddy the chance to recover. Saturn with a press slam on Guerrero. Suplex, however Malenko stands behind him, grabbing Eddy in a waistlock before he lands, only for Guerrero to then catch them both with a back kick low blow. Huracanrana on Malenko that he doesn’t quite get all of, but a much better one on Saturn. Malenko blocks the headscissors, slamming Guerrero to the canvas and Saturn is over to break up the pin. Tornado DDT to Saturn and this time Malenko is the one breaking the count. ‘Tiger driver’ by Malenko on Eddy for two. ‘Texas Cloverleaf’, but on seeing Saturn back to his feet, he lets go and takes him out with a clothesline. Eddy reverses the whip to the corner and sits Malenko on the top turnbuckle. Saturn has recovered from that lariat and gets underneath, putting him on his shoulders. Malenko climbs to the top, only for Saturn to then drop Eddy throat first across the top rope, causing Malenko to lose his balance. Overhead belly to belly on Eddy. Malenko counters the attempted superplex and dumps Saturn face first to the ring. Eddy is next to have a go, looking for the top rope rana, but Malenko blocks that and hits a super gutbuster. Frog splash by Saturn, and after Malenko breaks the pin he puts him in the ‘Texas Cloverleaf’. Guerrero breaks that one up and a brain buster on Saturn. Malenko with ‘the Rings’ as they continue to use each others own holds against them. Three man belly to back suplex, and as Saturn rolls to the outside, Chyna hits him with her roses. Sunset flip by Eddy, but Malenko grabs the ropes to stop himself from being taken down. Chyna’s about to hit him with the roses, although he sees her coming and snatches them out of her hand. She trips him from the outside and he lands head first on them. Half nelson cradle and Eddy retains his European title, before it’s revealed that there was a lead pipe amongst those roses. Perhaps Jack Doan should’ve checked them after all! They certainly crammed a lot into this, but it wasn’t as smooth as you would expect from these three. The additional issue that two of them are simply not over in the slightest, and as a result the crowd are deathly silent at times (such as when they were using each others holds garnered zero reaction when it should’ve elicited the polar opposite). At least Malenko has got the Light Heavyweight title, but struggle to see where Saturn goes from here or what you can even do with him.

As Crowbar and Daffney celebrate after defeating Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch, an irate Ric Flair heads out and attacks Crowbar. He clears the ring of them both and calls out Vince Russo as he wants them to settle things now. A video plays on the big screen and Vince Russo (“this is an expose baby. I’m Geraldo!”), David Flair and Daffney pull up at Ric’s house in Charlotte, NC. There is a limo outside the property and David says that is Beth’s and he’s never ridden in it. They head inside the property and on the wall is a picture of Beth, Ashley and Reid. Russo makes a crack bout how many facelifts Beth has had, before saying how Reid is known as ‘champ’ because of all the medals and trophies he won and David (who must be ‘chump’ then) could never live up to his expectations. There is a swimming pool in the back garden which David says is ‘their’ swimming pool, while his is a filthy little creek off the side of the house. Russo finds the Naitch’s wardrobe and talks about how the contents cost more than David’s education did, before putting on one of Ric’s robes. We head to ‘champ’s’ bedroom with all his trophies and then contrast that with David’s, which is supposedly a room in the basement of the house with a quilt on the floor. Beth, Reid and Ashley return home and David says they’re doing an expose on Ric, but Beth tells them all to get out of there or she’ll call the police. As they’re leaving Russo tells Ashley to keep her hands to herself as Reid gives him a shove in the back to hurry him up. Back at the arena and David and Daffney are out, and David says that “his Dad” is busy in the back so anything Ric’s got to say he can say it to him. Ric invites him into the ring and tells him that those are the biggest steps he’ll ever take in his life because tonight he’s going to grow up. Flair talks about how he told David that when he got in the business they would try to manipulate him, to turn them against each other; they would talk about his divorce, about Reid, about Ashley. He says that he never wanted this, but he kept pushing and pushing. They set up a match for the Great American Bash where David won’t face his dad; he’ll face Ric Flair, with Ric promising that if he loses to David (“an embarrassment to their family”) he’ll retire from wrestling for ever. Jeff Jarrett then appears from nowhere and breaks a guitar over his head before putting him in the figure four. World title match, and Vince Russo, David Flair and Daffney are out first, joining Tony Schiavone and Mark Madden at the commentary table, with Russo still wearing one of Ric’s robes. No ring gear for ‘the Naitch’ as he’s going to wrestle this in T-shirt, trousers and dress shoes. Flair charges at Jarrett a soon as he walks through the entrance, meeting him on the ramp way. He pummels him around ringside and cracks a chair over his back. After tossing him into the ring, Ric stops to “Whoooo!” to the crowd, that slight delay giving ‘Double J’ the chance to yank up the middle rope when he through and in himself. Whip to the corner, and Flair just about manages his flip over the turnbuckles and to the outside. Jarrett launches him into the guardrail and then repeatedly jabs a chair into his stomach. Nice vertical suplex on the arena floor. Figure four, and after being unable to reverse the hold, Ric makes it to the ropes for the break. ‘Naitch’ counters the punches in the corner with a reverse atomic drop followed by a low blow. A second flip in the corner after Jarrett reverses the Irish whip, although his time Ric lands on the apron and drops ‘Double J’ with a clothesline. He heads up top, but Jarrett is back to his feet and slams him to the canvas. Backdrop attempt is telegraphed and Flair with an inside cradle for the win and the World title change. Jarrett breaks a guitar over the head of referee Charles Robinson, and David and ‘Double J’ beat on Ric, while Russo snatches the title belt and runs to the back. He’s met halfway by Kevin Nash who grabs the belt off him. ‘Big Sexy’ steps into the ring, nails Jarrett with the belt and ‘Jackknife’ powerbombs him through the ring, before presenting the belt to Ric and raising his hand. The expose at the start might be the crowning moment of Vince Russo’s career. He’s perfect as this obnoxious jerk, twisting and manipulating everything to tell the story that he wants to be told. Daffney is great jumping around and pulling all these faces, just a shame David is so wooden and stilted; something that is evident in the follow up promo where they set the match for the Great American Bash. Ric is tremendous cutting his side of it, bringing in elements of real life (his divorce from David’s mum) to the point you’re completely captivated by what he’s saying and hanging on every word. Sadly David is the polar opposite and just so not cut out for professional wrestling. The World title match wasn’t the longest, but it was an enjoyable little watch (although I really wish Ric would’ve been in ring gear as opposed to street clothes) and neither phoned in a performance. That vertical suplex on the floor looked great mind and good on Flair for taking a bump like that when he clearly didn’t have to.

Rematch for the TV title after Golden had defeated Styles for the belt at ‘Hardcore Hell’ in the ladder match. Some lovely fluid chain wrestling between these two opens things up, before Styles takes Golden down with an arm drag. He escapes the armbar, but after an A.J. dropkick he’s right back at that arm. Whip to the turnbuckles, Styles runs in and leaps up onto Golden’s chest, flips backwards and then levels him with a clothesline. The powerbomb is countered by an ‘Alabama Slam’ and Golden drops a knee to A.J.’s groin. He throws Styles to the outside and then distracts the referee enabling Jeff G. Bailey to get some shots in behind his back. Sunset flip by A.J. back into the ring. Golden grabs the ropes to prevent him from being taken down, however the official kicks his arms to break the grasp and Styles completes for a two. Big clothesline that A.J. takes a spinning flip bump off. Top rope splash, but Styles gets his foot up and Golden flies head first into it. Running forearm smash in the corner. The ref is over saying something to Golden, but he’s too close to him and is obviously going to get bumped here… and so he does when A.J. goes for it again and Golden pulls him in front of him. The official rolls out the ring and you see Jeff G. Bailey putting the boots to him. Action continues inside and Styles with a ‘Downward Spiral’ off the middle. He makes the cover and Steve Martin runs from the commentary booth and into the ring to count the pin. However A.J. gets up off Golden at the count of two, as Al Getz speculates that he knows he’s not the legal referee and therefore has no power. After seemingly pondering what to do, Styles attacks Martin and gives him a ‘Downward Spiral’. Jorge Estrada is out to confront him, and when A.J. says to calm down “it’s okay”, boom, ‘Downward Spiral’ number three. Bailey then tells Martin that he’s finished, this is ‘his’ company, it’s the Jeff G. Bailey Arena and he implores him to give it all up. Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought the A.J. turn made no sense, although it had at least been hinted at in the Jesse Taylor match from 4/29. Interesting to see what his reasoning is for joining Bailey if we have that. I’m not fond of the ‘Downward Spiral’ as a move at the best of times, but yeah, it looked even worse off the middle rope.

Backstage interview and Mike Tenay says how Kidman is about to face the biggest challenge of his career when he takes on ‘the Immortal’ Hulk Hogan. Kidman tells him to stop kissing Hogan’s ass and he’s already proved that he’s anything but ‘immortal’. As for him being his biggest challenge, he’s beaten him three times already, and with Eric Bischoff wearing the pinstripes, he can’t lose. ‘Easy E’ claims he’s going to call this right down the middle... right down the middle of Hulk Hogan’s yellow back! It’s going to be a great night for Billy Kidman and a great night for the New Blood! Hulk has his nephew Horace accompanying him and they’re wearing matching ‘FUNB’ jackets. Bischoff exerts his authority early and sends Horace to the back before this even has a chance to get underway. Kidman has retreated to the outside with Torrie, and Bischoff continually stops Hogan from going out after him until he’s finally had enough and shoves him out the way. He chases Kidman around ringside and into the ring, although that works against him, as with Kidman in there first, when Hulk slides in himself he starts to stomp a mud hole in him. Hogan reverses an Irish whip, Kidman ducks a couple of clotheslines, but Hulk then botches a ‘Boss Man slam’. He struggles to execute a bodyslam (which Kidman ends up countering into a small package) and I can’t tell if he’s selling a back injury or he’s just completely messed the spot up. Hulk blocks a sunset flip and grabs Kidman around the neck, before lifting him up and crotching him on the top rope. Hogan grabs a chair from ringside, but Bischoff warns him about using it, so instead sets it up in the ring, presses Kidman and drops him ribs first onto it. Whip to the corner, and a charging Hogan runs into a Kidman big boot. Huracanrana on ‘the Hulkster’ and a dropkick sends him to the outside. Hulk drags Kidman out with him and hurls him into the metal guard rail. He uses Torrie as a shield to protect himself, before pushing her at Hogan and then sucker punching him. Back inside and ‘the Hulkster’ with a lariat. He takes off his weightlifting belt and whips Kidman with it until Bischoff snatches it off him. The distraction gives Kidman the opportunity to attack Hulk from behind, and ‘Easy E’ can’t wait to hand that belt over to him in order to dish out a bit of retribution. The match continues to ebb and flow with Hogan hip tossing Kidman over the top rope and to the arena floor. Hulk makes a cover, but Bischoff is more concerned about making sure that his shirt is tucked in! Belly to back suplex, another cover and now Bischoff is just walking around the ring. “Asshole, asshole” chant from the crowd! As Hogan confronts him, Bischoff claims he knows how to count, he just didn’t see it! A big boot and now Bischoff cuts off Hulk, standing in the way as he’s about to deliver the legdrop. Hogan slugs ‘Easy E’ and drops the leg on Kidman. Bischoff picks up a chair, but Hulk sees him coming and gets in first with a boot to the mid-section. Chair shot across the back of Bischoff and one for Kidman too. He collects a couple of tables from under the ring and is about to powerbomb Bischoff through one of them, when he gets clobbered in the back by a chair swinging Kidman. He then clocks him over the head with it, but Bischoff is down and unable to make the count so he does it himself for the visual three. By the time ‘Easy E’ has come back around, Hulk’s recovered sufficiently and kicks out of the pin at two. It transpires Hogan was busted open by that chair shot, and as they’re about to hit him again, he kicks the chair into Kidman’s own face. Powerbomb on Bischoff through the table! Kidman with a chair shot across the back of Hulk before laying him on one of the tables. He heads upstairs, but Hogan moves and he crashes through the table. Cover, Horace Hogan rushes out, and with Bischoff still KO’d, picks up his hand and slaps it to the canvas three times to give ‘the Hulkster’ the win. This was going along just fine until the closing stretch, which was a cluster with all the table breaking and chair shots. There was so much happening that it started to dilute things for me. Kidman worked really hard here in probably the biggest match of his career, taking some ridiculous bumps (press slam on to the chair, the bump to the arena floor while crotched on the top rope, the hip toss over the top to the outside). Finish, with Hogan almost surely exercising his creative control, was plausibly the best they could do in that scenario with Bischoff as the official. Overall a fun match which I enjoyed, but that closing stretch should’ve been trimmed and limited the table bumps to just the powerbomb on Bischoff.

Pondo has his ribs all taped, selling an injury from an earlier round, although he has them taped over his T-shirt! He tells the crowd that he’s defying doctor’s orders to wrestle, and promises Corporal Robinson “a good old fashioned Milwaukee ass whipping!” Corp targets those ribs immediately with a kick and some punches. They take their toll immediately and Corp steps outside to grab a couple of chairs from under the ring before breaking a beer bottle over Pondo’s head. Furniture arrangement time, and with Dave Prazak’s help, he lays one of the barbed wire boards between the two chairs and powerbombs Pondo through it. ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker followed by a slingshot legdrop onto a chair which he’d placed over Pondo’s face. Top rope frankensteiner as the Madman crashes through a second barbed wire board. After Corp and Prazak bring the third and final board into the ring, Pondo gets in one of his first offensive moves of the match, a low blow! He digs a broken light tube into his forehead and then wallops him with the ‘stop’ sign. The Madman disappears to the dressing room, only to return with a big bundle of light tubes all taped together. He places them between two chairs (although has a bit of trouble in doing so) and puts Corp through them with a spinning cutter. Pondo breaks a couple of light tubes over him, but a Robinson low blow looks like it’s killed him the way he’s just lay there. That gives Corp the chance to position that last barbed wire board where he wants it (between two chairs obviously!) and he’s found himself a crowbar from somewhere which he then uses on those injured ribs. A second top rope rana is blocked, and Pondo counters with a terrible looking face first suplex where Corp goes feet first through the board as he can’t lift him all the way up. Pondo makes the cover, but Prazak is on the apron distracting the referee. Someone runs out, drops a leg to the back of the neck of Pondo, hits a reverse DDT and drags Corp on top. No idea who he is and he’s not even attempting to get out of the ring, just standing on the turnbuckles giving the finger to the fans! Super slow count by the official, when at two, Pondo reverses the pin cradling Corp and the ref fast counts his shoulders to the mat. Pondo is then presented with the ‘Hardcore Cup’ trophy by the promoter of MAW. I liked the start of this with Corp targeting Pondo’s ribs and potentially setting the story for the match. Although not a huge fan of setting up furniture, I actually thought it looked totally plausible here when Robinson was doing it, much better than that match they had in IWA-MS earlier in the month. Heck, you’ve just broken a beer bottle over someone’s head, of course he’s going to be KO’d and out of things for a bit! Unfortunately it was a different matter completely when Pondo took control, as with him spots seemed to take an eternity to set up. You had Pondo leaving the match to go to the dressing room, and then he made a complete mess of setting the light tubes on the chairs, to the point the crowd chant “you f*cked up” at him, so he stops wrestling and joins in with the chant before returning to the match at hand! All while Corp has to sell and act as though he’s out of it. Talking of the IWA-MS match, some very similar spots here such as the top rope rana through the light tubes and the spinning cutter. The face first suplex looked awful and that finish was atrocious, even more than usual with this being the final of a tournament. This started out promising, but the second half of the match was dire.

These two are attached by the wrist to the chain. They start by playing ‘tug of war’, trying to drag their opponent over to them. Mitch is coming out on top of that, when Corp dropkicks him in the legs. He gets some punches in, until Page returns the favour after a low blow. Corp rolls to the floor, but they’re on the opposite side to the camera so we don’t get the best view of things. ‘Mean Mitch’ whips Corp with the chain, before using it to choke him with. A trusty low turns the tide on Robinson’s favour, and he grinds the barbed wire into Page’s forehead opening him up. He goes to work on that cut, before yet another low blow. Short clothesline by Mitch, he then ties Corp up against the ring post using the chain and splashes him against it. ‘Rock Bottom’ for two, with Page barely getting Corp up off the canvas. He throws him over the top rope to the outside, but not sure he thought that one through properly as big Mitch has to clamber over it himself! Page grabs a table and pulls it over to the ring, but that eventually works against him as Corp gets the win with the ‘boot camp’ off the apron and through the table (guessing this was also a falls count anywhere match as the pin takes place on the arena floor). Page, like Pondo, is someone I just flat out struggle with. This was okay as it didn’t overstay its welcome (like a lot of the ‘hardcore’ matches I’ve watched), there was no sitting around arranging furniture and setting up spots (just that one table bump) and there was some good stuff in here such as Page whipping Corp with the belt and also using the chain to tie him against the ring post. My main criticism would be the over reliance on ‘low blows’, not the first time I’ve said that this year and it probably won’t be the last. I’m not in any hurry to see any more of ‘Mean Mitch’, but for what it was, this wasn’t bad.

Good reaction to Rios on his introductions, to the point that the crowd are actually booing Spanky. They start a “Lita, Lita” chant and Rios invites her into the ring, making out he’s going to let her wrestle the match for him, only to attack Spanky when he’s not looking. He’s got some bad looking punches but better chops. Whip to the corner, Spanky with the tip up over the charging Rios and a dropkick to the back. Release overhead belly to back sees Essa land on his feet and barely connect with a dropkick of his own. Arm drag takedown, but a Spanky drop toe hold sends him crashing head first into the bottom turnbuckle. Satellite headscissors and Spanky counters the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker with an arm drag right out of Lucha Libre. Essa blocks the huracanrana and just dumps Spanky to the canvas. He drapes him over the middle rope and distracts the official giving Lita the opportunity to choke him, much to the approval of this pro-Lita crowd. Spinning heel kick followed by a Tornado DDT, and he’s back distracting the ref so Lita can give him a Tornado DDT of her own. Only a two mind as Spanky kicks out of the pin. Essa sits him on the top turnbuckles, but Spanky kicks him in the arm as he’s about to punch him. Leaping ‘Spankensteiner’ off the middle! He heads upstairs, but Rios is up and brings him back down with an arm drag off the top. Moonsault (which he overshoots) and Essa gets three for the win. Lita with a post-match moonsault and the two of them count a further three on Spanky. I said that last night the reaction she got should indicate that Lita has got a bright future ahead of her, I’ll add to that now that she is clearly the star of this act. The big pop that Rios got on his introduction was almost certainly down to her, as evidenced by how they reacted to him during the match as compared to when she did her spots. Rios actually looked pretty green at times in there, the match itself was fairly sloppy and the execution was off in places.

Another RF house show taping. Strange to see Spanky and Dragon together again, although by their mannerisms it looks like they’re doing the reluctant partners gimmick. Lita is seconding the WWF team and Spanky hands her some flowers pre-match which she just tosses into the crowd. Classy “show us your puppies” chant aimed at her, and you can clearly make out a few young voices in there. Dragon with a drop toe hold on Rios and the two have some nice exchanges and reversals worked around a wristlock. Picture perfect dropkick and he tags in Spanky. Essa reverses the Irish whip, tilt-a-whirl backbreaker attempt, but Spanky counters with a Lucha style arm drag. Cartwheel into a wheelbarrow arm drag, although that’s not the smoothest. He looks for it again, but this time Rios just dumps him to the canvas and drops the leg for a two count. D-Lo decks Spanky with a couple of rights and has him set for a powerbomb, when Dragon springboard dropkicks Spanky in the back sending him crashing down on top of D-Lo. Double hip toss followed by a double dropkick from the TWA boys. Essa tries to help his partner, but Danielson takes him out with a spinning heel kick. That slight distraction was enough though as D-Lo levels Dragon with a dropkick. Modified sit out powerbomb, although there is no-one home for the frog splash. A miscommunication sees D-Lo ‘Stinger splash’ his own partner, and Spanky and Dragon with a pair of springboard dropkicks, followed by stereo punches in the corner. Tornado DDT by Spanky as he and Dragon then climb adjacent turnbuckles. Danielson with the flying elbow, but Lita is up on the apron and saying something to Spanky. As Dragon covers D-Lo, the count is broken up by a Spanky top rope splash. D-Lo then rolls over to cover Danielson for the win, as he and Spanky then fight each other all the way to the back. Seeing the two of them together, you can clearly see that Dragon has now surpassed Spanky. He’s much more crisper in everything he does, whereas Spanky still has a tendency to look rough and ragged at times (such as when he was working those Lucha spots with Essa Rios). Interesting to see them both against WWF names (and not looking out of place one iota), and D-Lo especially was over huge with the San Antonio crowd. Talking of which, the reaction she got here is an indicator that Lita would have a bright future ahead of her. The finish was a tad unclear as RF was filming the pin, so you don’t know whether Essa shoved Spanky off the top on to Dragon, or whether he did it himself trying to impress Lita.

And delete the post after you've done so!

Is Bubba the future Love Sponge? He’s a big fella anyway, 425lbs and accompanied by his manager Sexy Eddy Van Snap along with a nameless valet. Tables match for Bubba’s Power House Pro Wrestling Heavyweight title. Bubba tries to attack Whiplash from behind, but he senses him coming and ducks out the way of a swinging right hand. Whip to the corner is reversed, however Whiplash avoids the ‘avalanche splash’ and lands a dreadful looking dropkick. He clocks the big man with the title belt right in front of the referee, although pulls the shot so clearly that the crowd chant “you f*cked up” at them both. A clothesline, but that one seems to hurt Whiplash more than his opponent! A real ugly looking reversal of the Irish whip and Bubba starts to unload with some punches. Backdrop-come-throw over the top to the outside that Whiplash takes all wrong, landing on his side on the hard wooden floor. Sexy Eddy puts the boots to him and then rams him into the ring post, again in full view of the official. Back inside and Whiplash starts to fire back, even hitting a Triple H style facebuster, but this is hardly ‘the Game’ in there! He rolls Bubba out the ring, looks for a baseball slide dropkick (which would never have landed anyway as Bubba was too far away); however he sidesteps that and drops him with a lariat (and with Whiplash taking another uncomfortable looking bump on that wood floor). DDT on the outside, before Bubba launches Whiplash over the counter and into the restaurant/concession area. Plastic garbage can across the back! They ‘brawl’ a bit more in this area of the building until Bubba throws him back over the barricades to ringside. Here he sets up a table, and after laying Whiplash on it, puts him through it with a big splash for the win. This was dire. A pair of clearly untrained backyarders putting on a ‘match’ in front of paying spectators. Neither has any proper ring gear, and they can’t even execute basics like a dropkick or a reversal of an Irish whip effectively. Whiplash takes a couple of careless bumps which must’ve hurt, while Bubba’s offense consists primarily of punches and kicks. The layout to this is all weird, as after the opening couple of spots (and why do a belt shot, that Bubba barely sold, so early in the match?) Bubba pretty much just ran through the guy. You also have a referee flagrantly ignoring weapon shots and managerial interference. This had a feeling as though it was Bubba’s own promotion, he’s the Heavyweight champion, and he’ll be dominant and always put himself over when he wrestles.

Alvarez reverses an arm wringer and Wayne just walks over to the ropes for the break. Plenty of Irish whips to the turnbuckles and knife edge chops by both men. Alvarez counters the sleeper with a belly to back suplex, he slaps on one of his own, but a back kick low blow by Wayne puts a stop to that. Wayne looks as though he’s heading upstairs for something, however just decides against it. Perhaps he should’ve continued what he had planned, as after yet another whip to the corner, he runs into an Alvarez big boot. Bulldog for two. Alvarez climbs to the top, but Wayne is up and takes a leg out from under him. For some reason the official is trying to stop Wayne going for a superplex so he shoves him out the way. He goes for it again, and this time the referee physically grabs him and pulls him away. Wayne swings at the ref who blocks the punch and decks him with a right of his own. ‘Swanton’ by Alvarez (or a ‘double flip’ as the commentator calls it) and he gets the win. A real basic match and I’m guessing Alvarez can’t have been wrestling for long at all by this point. I’ve never seen a referee stop a wrestler from going for a superplex, so no idea what this one was playing at. Instantly forgettable and only the curiousness of seeing Alvarez wrestle should make you want to check it out.

Jade says that Alan Steel was right and this town isn’t big enough for the both of them, but he tells the fans to have no fear, he’s going nowhere and is ending Steel’s career today. ‘All That’ sprints to the ring and unloads on his opponent. Back elbow off the middle turnbuckle gives him his third two count in the opening thirty seconds of the match. Bulldog, only to miss the follow up top rope splash. ‘Jaded Edge’ (a pedigree) and Steel kicks out in time. He backdrops a charging Jade over the top to the arena floor, and then levels him with a springboard plancha. Steel launches him into the announcer’s desk and the two fight into the back area. When they return to ringside Jade throws Steel head first into the ring post. He sets up a table on the outside; however the Irish whip to the ring post is reversed and Jade is the one who goes crashing into it. Chair shot to the head, Steel then lays Lance on the table and puts him through it with a splash off the top turnbuckle to the floor. He rolls him into the ring, ‘Jaded Edge’ by Steel and Lance Jade is out of here. This had the same problem as the Texas Death match in that it was too rushed and they simply weren’t given long enough (less than four minutes). There was nothing wrong with the work between them, and I liked the idea of Steel’s early pin attempts as a way to try and surprise his opponent. Using Jade’s own finisher against him was also a nice touch. Talking of which, Jade’s first offensive move was that ‘Jaded Edge’ which Steel kicked out of; you would’ve thought they would have built to a spot like that? Similarly to their previous match the lasting memory will be the table bump though, which is a shame as with longer I think these two could have done something pretty special.

What is it with IPW and atrocious quality videos? The video here looks like it’s been chewed to pieces and therefore it’s another tricky one to watch. Horowitz starts by establishing himself as the heel, trying to trip Capone on the break, sticking his chin out for him to punch and ducking his head between the ropes. He responds to a “Barry sucks” chant by telling the audience “I don’t suck, Frankie sucks!” After throwing Capone to the outside, he puts him in a chicken wing on the floor and then rams him shoulder first into the ring post. From this point on his sole focus is as attacking that arm; everything he does is so methodical, there’s no wasted motion and he works his way through a whole host of offensive moves to try and weaken it (I really liked the uppercut to the arm whilst trapped in an arm wringer). The “Barry sucks” chant which was one lone voice at the start, now seems to have the majority of the crowd joining in with it. When one of them shouts “boring” at him, he shouts back “excuse me for knowing how to wrestle”! The finish is piss poor, as Horowitz fakes an injury after a leap frog, and with the referee checking on him, someone runs from the dressing room and KO’s Capone. ‘Bad’ Barry then covers his unconscious opponent for the win. Just like last night Capone didn’t show much, but this was the Barry Horowitz show. He controlled everything about the match, the flow, the pacing, worked on top for most and seriously, if Benoit, Danielson or some renowned technician had done that job at targeting the arm, people would be signing their praises to high heaven. If you can tolerate the video quality I’m pretty sure you’d enjoy this (finish aside), and another real good Horowitz house show performance.

Barbed Wire match for control of 50% of the IWA. Jim Fannin is at it again with his ring introductions and making wise cracks at the heel’s expense. Someone from the crowd hands Ian a baking tray with ‘Bitch Tits’ on, leading to the audience starting a ‘bitch tits’ chant at Blaze. Not happy with those chants, he tells everyone that he’s going home (he’s a sensitive sort if that’s all I takes for him to give up a shot at 50% ownership of the IWA!), before changing his mind and “not giving all these f*cks the pleasure!” A member of the audience throws a bra at him, which he hurls back at them, and the bell rings to finally get this underway. Ian backs Blaze into the corner, gives him a punch to the guts and Blaze spits out his chewing gum, which Ian picks up off that gross canvas and puts back in his mouth! Kick to the stomach and he drags him over to the barbed wire. Blaze with an eye rake and he digs the prongs of the barbed wire into Rotten’s forehead cutting him open. Low blow by Ian, and someone passes him a bunch of light tubes which he breaks over Blaze’s back before then slicing him with a shard of the broken glass. Another eye rake stops Ian in his tracks and he returns the light tube favour. He’s back running the barbed wire across Rotten’s forehead until a testicular claw puts a stop to that. Barbed wire board across the back. Legdrop off the top by Blaze for two. He places a chair in the corner, but Ian fights back and launches him head first into it, followed by more shenanigans with the barbed wire being dug into various parts of the body. Blaze goes for a clothesline, but Rotten ducks out the way and he takes out the official instead. Stiff clubbing lariat across the face by Ian, when out comes Corporal Robinson who hits him with ‘the boot camp’. He rolls Blaze on top, a second referee rushes to the ring but Ian is able to get the shoulder up at two. Belly to back suplex, and now this ref is taken out when Blaze avoids a Rotten clothesline and he accidentally hits the official. With both referees down, Pondo is out, strips the jersey off one of them and puts it on himself. Blaze with a small package, he counts the two and then pushes the wrestlers over so Ian is on top. Still only gets a two though. Backslide and Pondo’s taking no chances of a kick out this time, as a lightning fast three count gives Ian the win. I bet these shows were long old affairs! The three matches we’ve watched, from start to finish, have gone about an hour and a half total. Add in the other bouts on the show, intermissions, setting up and clearing the ring after the gimmick matches and you’ll be struggling to stay awake by the end of it! Another poor match I’m afraid and the worse of the three. A lot of this was plain boring, with them just sat on the canvas digging the barbed wire into their opponent’s forehead/arm or cutting them with fragments of broken light tube. I may not have liked Pondo/Corp, but at least they incorporated some stuff like the spinning cutter, top rope rana etc. into their match. They bought more to the table than these two by a long way. The low blows and eye rakes as a way to change the tide of the match were overkill, while the finish was hideous with Pondo putting on the ref’s shirt and fast counting Blaze’s shoulders to the mat. The lone positive I’ve got was that near fall with Ian kicking out of the ‘boot camp’, but that’s it.

Prior to this commencing, Pondo gets Corp to put his MAW title on the line, even though “it looks like a piece of shit with metal on!” This is a lumberjack match, where all the lumberjacks at ringside are carrying light tubes. A couple of lock ups sees neither man get an advantage, so Corp goes to the eyes and backs Pondo into the corner where a series of kicks to the stomach results in him crumpling to the canvas. He gets his lumberjacks to pass him some light tubes and a couple of chairs, and makes a Pondo sandwich between them. Slingshot legdrop onto the chairs (which were laid over Pondo’s head), but the light tubes don’t break so not the affect they were really looking for! A light tube over the head to try and compensate, before he digs the broken tube into his forehead. Headbutt to the groin by Pondo. He throws Corp out to ‘his side’ where the lumberjacks break a bunch of light tubes over his back. Robinson quickly returns to the ring and Pondo waffles him with a ‘stop’ sign. Spinning ‘Ace crusher’ through some light tubes that had been positioned between two chairs, and now he’s grinding shards of glass into Corp’s forehead. Corp fires back with a shot to the bread basket, and Pondo pretty much has to sit there while he arranges the furniture for their next spot; a top rope frankensteiner sending Pondo through a pile of light tubes on landing (which had been placed between those same chairs). Yup, after being on the receiving end of that, Pondo is the one who is back to his feet first! Someone hands him a light tube covered crutch but that doesn’t break when he uses it, only on the turnbuckle when he subsequently checks to see what’s going on! Pondo again throws him to the floor where the lumberjacks get in some more licks with those light tubes. A mirror makes it’s way into the ring and Corp breaks it over the Madman. He then throws Pondo out to his side and four of the lumberjacks simultaneously break a light tube over his head (which visually looks great). As Pondo is draped over the middle rope (they were attempting some sort of O’Connor roll spot), Blaze breaks a light tube over his head and all hell then breaks loose. Ian Rotten chases after Blaze, the lumberjacks starts fighting each other and we’ve another wild, crazy building wide brawl with fans scarpering and chairs going everywhere. It’s all a distraction though so that Ian and Jim Fannin can drag the light tube, barbed wire covered table to ringside for the final bump. The final bump is Corp and Blaze hitting a 3-D on Pondo through that contraption. ‘Boot camp’ in the ring and the official counts the three, slapping his hand on a chair due to all that glass which is covering the ring. Ox Harley saves Pondo from a post-match beating, which leads to Ian setting up Corp/Blaze vs Ox/Pondo in a falls count anywhere, fans bring the weapons match at the next show. I will say that Pondo has cool entrance music (Smashing Pumpkins) and some sort of weird charisma, but it’s all downhill from the moment the bell rings. This was terrible (I was going to say ‘bad’, until I remembered that’s how I described Kickboxer/Suicide Kid and this was worse than that); lots of light tubes get broken, they take too long arranging the furniture and setting up spots (to the point it looks ridiculous the way the other person has to just sit there waiting), the actual wrestling is next to nothing and not very good, while the lack of selling was infuriating (I was dumbfounded to see Pondo back to his feet first after that top rope rana that put him through a pile of light tubes). Then seeing Ian forget brawling and going after Blaze so that he can go and move the table into position for the final bump... Garbage match, garbage wrestling.

For the IWA-MS Light Heavyweight title which the challenger, the American Kickboxer, is a former 13 time champion of. Mid-way through the introductions the ring announcer all of a sudden says that this is a ‘falls count anywhere’ match. Kickboxer cuts a pre-match promo over the house mic; which is a typical, IWA-MS heel promo, in that they just cuss and hurl insults at the fans! After Kid backs Kickboxer into the corner, he complains to the ref about something, which results in them exchanging shoves and Suicide schoolboying him for an early two. Kid ducks under a clothesline, and as Kickboxer approaches the official, he hip tosses him, much to the amusement of the crowd. Some nice work around a wristlock, before Kickboxer grapevines the leg and looks to the audience for some acknowledgement. Kid reverses it and locks on a ‘rocking horse’ submission, although you can clearly see Kickboxer feeding him his arms. They botch an armdrag, and Kid with a dropkick sending his opponent under the bottom rope and to the outside. Pescado, but Kickboxer just walks away and Kid crashes and burns on the concrete floor. Kickboxer then grabs him by the nipples and tosses him into the chairs sending them everywhere. They fight into the parking lot, but with just the one hard camera filming this we don’t see any of the action that takes place out there. The video cuts to all the fans returning to the building after following them outside, while the two combatants are in the ring. Springboard legdrop to the back of the neck by Kickboxer for two. Irish whip, but Kid with the Tajiri handspring elbow followed by a Falcon Arrow. He heads to the top turnbuckle, but Kickboxer is up, swipes his legs out and hits a ‘Ki Krusher’. Brainbuster and first fall to the American Kickboxer. The camera zooms in on him at this point and he got busted open at some point as he’s bleeding from the forehead. When Kid returns to his feet, Kickboxer immediately takes him off them again with a clothesline and applies the figure four. He uses the ropes for leverage, and the hold is only broken when the official catches him. There’s no-one home on the ‘bronco buster’ and now Kid is running and jumping around not selling that leglock in the slightest. Cradle piledriver, split legged moonsault, but Kickboxer kicks out. Low blow and an Arabian moonsault, however Kid gets his knees up and ties the bout at one fall apiece with a Tim Horner roll up and bridge. Kid starts the final fall with a backdrop driver, before a baseball slide dropkick sends Kickboxer to the arena floor. Springboard double axe handle to the outside. Kid grabs a couple of chairs and lays them in the ring. He’s looking for the top rope rana, but Kickboxer shoves him backwards and he lands flush on those chairs. Kickboxer misses the legdrop off the middle, only for Kid to then miss a moonsault and hurt his knee in the process. Kickboxer targets the leg with a series of kicks as Kid collapses in the corner. Superplex, but Kid cradles the legs on landing for the third and deciding fall. The two of them have a mutual love in after and set up a 30 minute Iron Man match for the show next week. For two guys who I remember getting so much praise, I didn’t think much of this and actually though it was quite bad at times. We may have been hindered by what happened outside the building in the parking lot, but that first fall seemed to come from nowhere. I also couldn’t work out what story they were trying to tell either. Kickboxer gets the first fall after a brainbuster, and then starts the second with an attempted figure four? It was so disjointed. Plenty of MOVEZ~ and not much else. Suicide’s selling was non-existent after being trapped in the figure four, running around and jumping on it (even a springboard double axe handle to the floor), while they blew a couple of spots and you could even see them co-operating on stuff. I also hated the involvement of the referee right at the start when he gives Kickboxer a hip toss. Just stick to officiating the match! Kickboxer and Kid do try, but yeah, not the best.

‘The White Boyz’ are Chance Beckett and Havoc, while the ‘Glamour Order of Discipline’ consists of ‘Loverboy’ Johnny Canuck and ‘Gorgeous’ Michelle Starr. The GOD jump the White Boyz as they’re swivelling their hips to the camera. Stereo chops in the corner, but as the GOD look to whip the White Boyz into each other, the whips are reversed and it’s the ‘Loverboy’ and ‘the Gorgeous one’ who collide in the middle of the ring. Poor looking double dropkick on Canuck with neither man getting up higher than his waist (although the commentator has the gall to call it a ‘high’ double dropkick). The camera misses a Havoc suicide dive, choosing to focus on some woman at ringside who I think is the valet of the GOD, and Chance with a very rough looking Asai moonsault. Flying back elbow to Canuck for two. The big man reverses the Irish whip and Starr with a knee into the back of Beckett. Double clothesline and a nice double team backbreaker/legdrop combination. Legdrop off the middle by Starr, however he slightly overshoots it and Beckett gets a face full of backside! Desperation sunset flip, which Starr then counters by just dropping to his knees on his opponent for another close fall. Canuck grabs hold of Beckett, but as Starr runs at him, Chance frees himself and he hits his own partner with a flying forearm. DDT on Starr, and he’s able to make the hot tag to Havoc. Scoop slam for two, as Canuck is now loitering around ringside. He finds himself a garbage can, and with the official preoccupied, nails Havoc over the back with it. Starr with a ‘tiger driver’ and that’s enough for the win. Post-match Canuck waffles the HFWB with the trash can as if he’s auditioning to be a Moondog. Commissioner and owner of ECCW, Dave Republic, enters the ring and hits Starr in the back with a chair. That has no effect though and they lay him out with the garbage can. Canuck collects himself a table and puts Republic on it. When he climbs the turnbuckles though, Buffy (the nameless valet) stands in between them, as it transpires she’s Republic’s nephew (although previously estranged). Starr clotheslines her, lays her on the table and Canuck comes off the middle with a splash putting her through it. I thought the ‘Glamour Order of Discipline’ were going to be a pair of grizzly, crafty veterans, but what they were was disappointing. Starr was passable, while Canuck was an overweight middle aged man whose best days are behind him; a couple of nice spots but that was pretty much it. The White Boyz were super green and most of their stuff didn’t look good which made for a scrappy affair. The finish was a bit contrived, what with the official having to be distracted, the way it wa executed, and I couldn’t care less about the post-match. Why even is the owner of the company attacking the wrestlers from behind with a chair?

If you've never seen it, check out his USWA Texas stuff from 1990.