| December 29, 2005
Wrestle Birmingham put on the best show in the company’s history last night and there was every indication that amazing things are yet to come. The Zamora Temple in Irondale, Alabama is going to be the site of the first Samoa Joe vs. A. J. Styles match ever held in the heart of Dixie. Wrestle Birmingham owner Linda Keebles has signed that mind-boggling match for the company’s return engagement on 2/3. But getting back to last night’s show, Wrestle Birmingham adopted a stronger TNA tinge, and the product was all the better for it. A Jeff Jarrett/B.G. James NWA World Heavyweight Title match headlined. But the semi-main, featuring Elix Skipper and Sonny Siaki vs. The Naturals, proved to be the best match of the night. Hot crowd especially for the big matches. They kept things moving at a brisk pace with none of the crowd-killing excesses that marred their previous efforts. Paid attendance was around 650. “Money Mike” Christopher announced that Styles would be appearing on the February show. Judging from the impressive pop for the mention of Styles, a healthy percentage of these folks watch TNA. (1) The Wrestler beat Chick Donovan in an elimination match for the NWA Wrestle Birmingham Junior Title (8:04) The Chickster is no speed demon in the ring but he still has great hair. Wrestler was “The Nightmare” Ted Allen. Donovan dominated fair and square. Wrestler claimed Donovan was using the mask to gain an unfair advantage. Donovan charged in with reckless abandon and his shoulder crashed into the top turnbuckle. Wrestler worked the body part. Wrestler countered a sunset flip with a fist up side the head. Donovan absorbed a shoulder block that sent him to the floor. Donovan fired back with punches, pulled the straps down (thereby shattering any illusions about his physique) and made the slow motion comeback. Donovan’s dropkick got no higher than Wrestler’s thigh. Wrestler loaded up his mask. Donovan hurt his hand via a punch to the foreign object. Wrestler headbutted Donovan with the gimmick to chalk up the victory. A perversely entertaining opener. (2) Mike Jackson beat Kid Money in an elimination match for the NWA Wrestle Birmingham junior title (11:29) Johnny Boone (formerly with WCW) was the ref. He’s top notch. Money was wearing the ugliest burnt orange gear imaginable. Jackson got the respect pop you would hope for as a local legend. Nobody was getting too excited about Money at the outset, but they drew the crowd into the match with their work. Money jumped Jackson. Money ate it charging in. Jackson hit a twisting crossbody off the middle rope. Jackson hit a tope. Helluva thing for a 55-year old to do. Jackson gave Money a spinning headscissors onto the newly-installed mats at ringside. The padding looks like hell, but it must be quality stuff because Money ran the ropes like nothing happened. Jackson did the ropes walk flying armdrag. When Money played copycat, Jackson brought him off the top with an armdrag. Jackson busted out a dragon screw legwhip. Money came back with a catapult into the buckles followed up with a superkick for a near fall. Money used a fallaway slam but Jackson was too close to the ropes. Money posted Jackson’s knee and applied the figure four. Jackson battled back and hiptossed Money in the hardway. Money right back with a sunset flip for two. Jackson immediately hit a hangman neckbreaker to score the pinfall. Good match. Michael St. John conducted a postmatch interview segment with Jackson to build up his match against Wrestler on 2/3 to crown the first NWA Wrestle Birmingham junior champion. Jackson said he was going to win the title in front of his peeps. Jackson added that in his opinion, Styles was the best wrestler in the US. Chase Dee was the ring announcer for the next match. He has the look of Paul Bearer Jr. and the voice of Elmer Fudd. (3) David Young beat Air Paris 6:55.</B> This was the best Air Paris match I’ve seen in several years, no small thanks to Young. Young took control. He pointed at his brain and went for an elbow drop. Paris rolled out of harm’s way and grounded Young with a side headlock. Paris snapped off a huracanrana. Young bailed and Paris lauched a headscissors from the apron. Young made an ideal base for Paris’ aerial stuff. The match took a 180 when Young hit a Liger Bomb for a near fall. Young locked on a sleeper hold. Young cut off the comeback with a powerslam for a near fall. Paris landed the superkick. Both men down. Paris got a near fall with a tornado DDT. But nobody home for the Paris moonsault. Young hit a grade AA spinebuster for the pin. Dan Masters announced that Samoa Joe would be Styles’ opponent on February 3. Almost no response from the crowd. Jimmy Powell was wearing a suit when he entered the ring for his scheduled match against Brad Armstrong. Powell was accompanied by an Anglo looking Arab called Butcher. Powell has been northing short of awesome in the role of the slick, master of motivation who manages to weasel his way out matches. Powell claimed that the Armstrongs weren’t in the building. He said Brad was in rehab and Scott was still hurt. Brad and Scott came out. Brad had his arm in a sling. Scott was wearing a heavy knee brace, as he’s still recovering from surgery for a torn ACL. Brad admitted that he couldn’t go due to a shoulder injury. “But you’re not going to get off that easy, because where there’s one Armstrong, there’s a slew of ‘em.” The crowd popped for that line. Powell said he wasn’t dressed to wrestle. Senior official, Roy George informed Powell that he had not filed for a substitute in a timely manner. That got a bigger pop and lead to… (4) Jimmy Powell (with Butcher) beat Scott Armstrong in 2:33 A prime example of a telling a great story while keeping the physical risks to a minimum. A few months ago, Scott said he planned to be back in the ring by February. Scott pounded on Powell. As much as I despised the use of the name Butcher (Bobby Hayes) by anyone except Abby, he served a useful purpose, as he nailed Scott with Powell’s briefcase. George sent Butcher to the back. Powell dropped some elbows and choked Scott with his tie. Scott made the comeback. Powell was great selling the punches. In desperation mode, Powell pulled something out of his briefcase. Scott caught Powell with a sleeper hold. Powell hit him with object to score the pinfall. Powell said the Armstrongs had rejected his motivational help, so he was staking his rep on beating all of them, including “Daddy-O.” (5) Brickhouse Brown and McNasty (with Robert Fuller) went to a double DQ in 12:48 These dudes know how to get down and dirty. This match made it two awesome brawls in a row. Brown was out for revenge. He hid out near the gimmick tables and jumped McNasty from behind. Brown hit a flying bulldog. Fuller provided distraction. The action spilled to the ringside area. Brown used a kneelift. McNasty used the rail. Brown used the ringsteps and McNasty juiced. Brown gave McNasty a piledriver on the Sealy Posturepedic padding. McNasty took a hammer to Brown’s head. Back inside, Brown hit a swinging neckbreaker for a near fall. McNasty dumped Brown back to the outside and bashed him with a walker. Brown came back with a DDT on the matting. McNasty brought a chair into play. He hit the floor with a full swing chairshot that would have killed Brown if it had connected. Brown kicked the chair into McNasty’s face and waffled him with a chairshot. McNasty executed a pumphandle facebuster onto the ringsteps. McNasty hit one ref. Soon, there were refs strewn all over the ring. The dressing rooms emptied in attempt to pull them apart. They brawled down the aisle. When was the last time you heard fans spontaneously calling for a cage match to settle a feud? (6) “The Bullet” Bob Armstrong beat Dennis Condrey in 7:39 The year 2005 has given me an entirely new appreciation for Condrey’s skills. This was another virtuoso performance by el rudo fabuloso. Nowhere does he seem more at home than working singles matches in this venue. Condrey griped about the fact that last time they promised him Tommy Rich. Condrey said it was a conspiracy against The Lover Boy. Condrey got tremendous heat, as he lured Bullet into his trap with chickens*** heeling. Condrey found an opening for a cheap shot and raked Bullet’s back. Condrey used a karate thrust to the throat. Condrey tried to bash Bullet’s head into the buckles, but Bullet wouldn’t sell it. Great facial expressions here even with the mask. Condrey pulled out a set of knucks. A masked man (presumably Lee Thomas who Condrey had beaten in loser leaves town match) ascended to the top rope. Condrey dumped the masked guy and started to pound him. Bullet capitalized with a roll up to score the pinfall. George pulled Bullet out of harms way. Condrey cried about shoddy treatment. He reminded the fans that he was a member of the Alabama Wrestling Hall of Fame. “You people voted me in.” Condrey said he was going to walk through the Armstrong family like a dose of Epsom salt. Condrey challenged Bullet to a rematch and said the Armstrong family would have to pay. (7) Sonny Siaki & Elix Skipper (with Robert Fuller) beat The Naturals (Chase Stevens & Andy Douglas to retain the NWA Wrestle Birmingham tag titles in 14:38 This match ruled. Killer heat and terrific performances all the way around. Siaki is money. It was the most entertaining performance by Siaki that I’ve ever seen live. The guy can talk and his work was crisp. He set things up with a heat seeking promo demanding respect for “Mr. Number One Cocky Siaki” and Skipper. Siaki let Skipper have the honors of starting. Things weren’t going well. Skipper made an unsolicited tag to Siaki, who bumped like mad and escaped to ringside for a timeout. Siaki pulled Stevens out, but that didn’t work either, as Stevens beat on the rudos one against two. Skipper pulled Douglas down from behind to start a massive heat segment. Skipper kicked Douglas in the spine and strangled him with the mic cord. Skipper hit a perfectly timed Overdrive. Siaki hit a powerslam. Siaki draped Douglas over the top rope and Skipper nailed a guillotine legdrop to the neck. Skipper went for a series of pin attempts but Douglas’ shoulders refused to stay down. Douglas connected with a jumping knee for a double down spot. Hot tag for some serious house cleaning by Stevens. He nipped up right into a leg lariat on Siaki. Skipper and Siaki had a meeting of the minds. Four-way action and the heels collided again. Naturals hit an electric chair/top rope neckbreaker combo, but Fuller pulled Douglas out. Siaki blasted Stevens with the belt behind the back of ref Mike Pedey and that was that. Fuller put his team over like God’s gift to wrestling. He said they would beat all the greats of today as well as the legends of yesteryear. Fuller said that at the last show it looked like Wendell Cooley and Adrian Street were about ready to kiss and make love. Fuller said his men were the tag team champions of Alabama and would beat Street and Cooley the next time. However, this match was so good that they may decide to hold off Street and Cooley in favor of a rematch wiuth Naturals. (8) Jeff Jarrett beat “Roaddog” B.G. James to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title in 11:30 Since when does a world champion come out first? Jarrett grumbled about it. James did the “Welcome to the Doghouse” intro referring to himself as a seven time WWF tag team champion. When Jarrett climbed the ropes to milk the crowd for a pop, James stuck a finger up his butt. Jarrett opened with armdrags and did the Memphis strut. Jarrett said he could beat any three men OR any seven women OR any 14 children in the crowd, before deciding they weren’t worthy of “The King of the Mountain.” James landed a series of jabs and dropped Jarrett with a haymaker. Jarrett stumbled around on the outside selling his jaw. James shoved a chair into Jarrett’s gut. Back inside, Jarrett gained control and used the Ivan Koloff flying seat drop. Jarrett got the sleeper. James countered with a back suplex that left both men on the canvas. James made the fiery comeback. Jarrett went for a belt shot on James and laid ref Roy George. A fight broke out between an Auburn fan and an Alabama fan. They take their football seriously in these parts. The Crimson Tide freak went after the Auburn dude with a chair. The cops got involved. Ref Mike Pedey ended up needing treatment at the hospital. In any case, it distracted the crowd from the finish of the match. James hit the pumphandle slam but no ref to count. George was bleeding heavily. Condrey hit the ring and jacked James with a loaded fist allowing Jarrett to cover for the 1-2-3. James asked was that Father Time or “Dirty Dennis” Condrey? George looked delirious. James excused George for not seeing it because he was obviously going to require medical attention for the gaping hole in his forehead. James vowed that the only way he would return to Zamora was for a match with Condrey. NOTES: Wrestle Birmingham is airing a special 2005 retrospective show tonight in their regular time slot of 12:05 am on ABC 33/40…It’s a safe bet that there will be a the strong TNA flavor to future Wrestle Birmingham shows…The company is considering the possibility of running spot shows around Alabama…The team of St. John and Masters provided the bulk of the television commentary…Masters latest claim to fame is that he named Announcer of the Year by the Alabama Wrestling Commission (whoever that is). |
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