[2000-04-08-TWA-Total Impact TV] American Dragon & Spanky vs Board of Education (Mask & Hair vs Titles)

[soup23]

This is the blow off to this feud and besides this and the HBK vs Venom match, this is essentially all we will see of TWA. Dragon has really looked like he has improved a bit just in the first two months as he is running the ropes and going through his progressions in a crisper and confident manner. Air Spanky also still looks great and Spanky/Dragon have formed a great Rockers esque unit in TWA. The match was 90% all Spanky/Dragon as they run through all their offense and look great doing so. Then Spanky is too cocky dancing in front of the referee while Dragon has the pinfall and one finisher from Board of Education is enough for them to steal the win. Dragon unmasks in disgust and goes nuts on Spanky giving him two Cop Killers on the chair. ***

[Loss]

The Joey Styles clone on commentary is annoying, but the match is good. Big moment in the career of Danielson, as he unmasks and turns heel in frustration, ending the partnership with Spanky and setting up the departing feud with both guys. Again, you can still see the improvement in these guys from week to week, but Danielson really did improve immeasurably. The aggressive kick to the face to cement his turn was the first time he has resembled the Danielson I know. I can feel the decade ahead shaping up.

[Migs]

This is some bad indy announcing.

 

I like that this is non-stop action but still maintains a decent structure. Dragon and Spanky both hit most of their stuff pretty cleanly, although there's some sloppiness (I noticed Dragon just letting the outside guy come in to make the save). The turn seemed to come out of nowhere, both from Spanky and then the Dragon upping the violence level. The Cop Killer on the chair looked brutal.

[Tim Evans]

I didn't enjoy this as much as the other matches between these two teams but it was still good. Dragon looked superior while the Board of Education looked very indie. Spanky had some nice dives and the finish was good for guys leaving the territory. The turn was good too. That announcer was BAD tho.

[Laney]

It was kind of funny hearing Dragon and Spanky announced as WWF superstars during their ring entrance, seems a bit embellished. This was a nicely worked match, but once again Spanky outshined Dragon in my eyes here. Dragon looked like he may have been blown up a bit near the end as he threw some very weak punches.

 

A nice little angle after the match here as Dragon finally loses the mask and shows some fire as he turns on Spanky. I'm a bit disappointed that we won't see these guys have a nice little feud in TWA after this.

 

I agree that Board of Education looked very indie and didn't show that much potential. Their gear doesn't match and doesn't make any sense. It's like if you blended the Mean Street Posse and The Brood into a team.

[GSR]

Tag team title match where the Board of Educations hair is on the line against the mask and titles of American Dragon and Spanky. The BOE jump their opponents before the ring announcer has even finished his introductions, however Dragon and Spanky reverse the Irish whips and stereo spinebusters followed by single leg crabs. The Board scramble to the ropes for the break and Jeremy Sage ducks out to the floor only to be on the receiving end of a Spanky pescado. Dragon with a couple of knife edge chops on Reuben Cruz but I doubt they have much impact through his vest and tank top! Drop toehold and Spanky with a slingshot legdrop from the apron and over the top rope. A dropkick sends him to the outside where hes immediately met by a Spanky suicide dive. Sage nails Spanky from behind and turns the tables in the BOEs favour. Not for long mind, as Spanky counters the tilt-a-whirl with a headscissors and then a German suplex for two. He tags in the Dragon and a drop toehold/baseball slide dropkick to the face combination. Dragon puts Sage in the camel clutch, but when Spanky runs the ropes, presumably for another dropkick, hes clobbered by Cruz. Boot to the back of Dragon and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Full nelson into a face first slam from Sage for two. Cruz with a belly to belly but its still not enough to put Dragon away. Great double team sees Cruz hit a Butterfly suplex off the top and Sage come off the adjacent turnbuckle with a splash. Spankys taking no chances and is in to break up the pin. Sage misses a moonsault from the middle, half nelson suplex on Cruz and hes able to make the tag. Spankamania is apparently running wild! Missile dropkick to the back of Cruz and Sage is in to save his partner. Spanky with another pescade, Danielson with a Dragon suplex on Cruz, however the official is distracted by Spanky who is now dancing in the ring admiring his own work. By the time the referee turns around to count the pin attempt Cruz has recovered enough to kick out. Dragon is in Spankys face wondering what hes playing at when Sage dropkicks him in the back sending him crashing into his partner. Brutal Death Drop (which is a combination double team F-5 and an Ace Crusher) on Dragon, the Board of Education regain the tag titles and the American Dragon must unmask. Spanky comes over to try and take his partners mask off but Dragon back elbows him in the head. He goes for it a second time and this time manages to pull it off. Dragon has got a face like thunder and after Spanky hugs him, he drops him with a big boot to the face. He collects a chair from ringside and gives him two vertabreakers on it, while the commentators cant believe what theyre seeing.

 

The best thing about this was Dragon's heel turn at the end. There was nothing wrong with the work, and you can continue to see the progression in Spanky and he, but for a supposed major stipulation like Dragon potentially losing his mask, this just didnt feel big. There was no intensity or anything, and in fact there was more intensity in that post-match attack. I didnt really understand the finish with Spanky just dancing and distracting the referee, unless it was to play to his kooky, out there character. Just didnt feel right, and to be fair, I couldnt blame Dragon for holding him responsible! Interesting to note that Dragon and Spanky were refered to as WWF superstars here, and with it ends phase one of Bryan Danielsons career.

[Moonsault Marvin]

Spanky continued to look the more polished of the team in this match, and I liked his dropkicks. The ending was weird with Spanky enthusiastically pulling off Dragon's mask and pinching his cheek, as he gave Dragon plenty of justification for being angry. Neither seemed like a babyface with that ending. Solid match.

[Seabs]

Pretty nothing match which didn't have the time to develop into something as good as the cage match. The ending was really weird. First of I have no idea what Spanky aas supposed to be doing but it surely couldn't have been dancing in front of the ref like the announcer was claiming. Or maybe it was because I can't come up with a better explanation. Initially I thought this was Spanky turning heel, especially when he started taking Dragon's mask off for him was douche mode turned up to the highest degree. And then Danielson attacked Spanky but it was called as him turning heel when really it was hard to blame him because Spanky was being a total knobhead and frankly deserved it. But it was certainly a heelish attack. Nothing match and a bad ending.

[Edwin]

This was really underwhelming as it was coming off a hot steel cage match and it was a big blowoff match, yet it was worked with very little intensity and sense of urgency. Spanky had nothing to lose and showed a sign of lack of understanding the importance of Dragon's mask being on the line, so that sorta makes sense.

 

The post match stuff was fantastic however.