[2000-01-15-MPPW-TV] Rico Constantino vs Steve Bradley

[soup23]

Garden variety Memphis but a match I enjoyed for the five minutes it took place. Rico looked good and the next babyface in line to be the centerpiece of PPW until he got the big call up. He hits some impressive power moves and looks crisp. The interference from Cornette was predictable but they added in some wrinkles like the kickout from the powerbomb and the referee being laid out by Rico after he was blinded to add some variety. In the end, Bradley is able to capture the prestigious belt. **1/4

[Loss]

Rico looks good here, but I think he may have had a ceiling even if WWE hadn't given him a gimmick that limited his upward potential. He strikes me as a regional talent more than a national talent, in some ways like a more athletic Brian Lee. I get sad every time I see a Bradley match because I do think he had the goods to succeed on a bigger scale, though. Solid short match. I do think if they were going to do two run-ins and a title change, they should have gone at least seven minutes or so.

[Moonsault Marvin]

The wrestling in this match was competent, but nothing special. Rico doesn't demonstrate any charisma, so he comes across as a bland cookie cutter babyface. All the run-ins seemed like overkill.

[GSR]

Lovely mullet Rico’s got! Constantino starts out in the ascendancy until Cornette hooks his ankle when Bradley shoots him into the ropes, turning the tide of the match. Nice dropkick from Bradley and a moonsault off the bottom rope for a two. A series of sleeper reversals, then both men collide in the middle of the ring and are knocked down. Rico with a flying elbow and a standing moonsault for two of his own. An O’Connor roll, and with the referee counting the pin, Cornette throws powder in Rico’s eyes to break it up. A blinded Constantino hits the official, ‘Sudden Impact’ (Emerald Frosien) on Bradley and Cornette is in the ring, however Rico sees him coming and nails him. B.J. Payne is out and attacks Rico from behind, powerbombs him and puts Bradley on top. The ref comes around and Constantino kicks out on two for a great near fall. Payne and Cornette are up on the apron and are both met with dropkicks. Seven is out next, he picks up Cornette’s racket, clobbers Rico in the back with it and pulls Bradley on top. The referee comes around again in time to count the pin and we have a new MPPW champion.

 

Anyone have any idea how much involvement Cornette had in the booking of Memphis Power Pro as this felt like one of his overbooked Smoky Mountain main events (powder, tennis racket, ref bump, Cornette involvement, multiple run ins). This was okay but felt too rushed for me and the finish was overbooked. I thought Bradley looked better than Constantino here, although Rico is clearly an athletic chap (did he ever use that standing moonsault in the WWF?) with some good moves. He probably came around ten years too late though as he looks more suited for late 80s/early 90s WWF.

[Tim Evans]

Cornette got the book shortly after the Doug Gilbert shoot in 1999. I think he stopped around the time WWF pulled out and formed MCW shortly after this.

 

This is a cornette special. Ref bumps, screwy finishes, multiple run ins, all about Cornette. Really disappointing match as the one they had when Rico won the title was real good.

[goc]

This was definitely too short to be able to successfully pull off all the overbooking they did. I don't have a problem with the idea of a match having multiple run ins and a ref bump but the execution here was terrible. This didn't do anything for me.

[Edwin]

I thought this was short, but good given the length. Rico getting blinded and whaling the ref. while he was blinded was clever. Unfortunately they didn't get to put much forward before the overbooked finish for such a short match.

 

Rico looked far better here than in anything they ever let him put together in WWE. This really makes me wish he would have gotten a better role than the one he was given with that many limitations.