| April 8, 2006
Great Championship Wrestling’s weekly show at the GCW Arena in Columbus produced an unlikely new television champion stemming from a spur-of-the-moment title match. There’s a theme here. This is a company that has seen its talent base shift radically over the last eight months Gone are name performers like Elix Skipper, Kid Kash, Sonny Siaki and Jason Cross. They’ve been replaced by a younger and far less experienced crew. GCW is all about developing new stars. Fortunately, they’ve got some hot prospects and the storylines to provide the juice. “Titles Overdue” drew a crowd of 275. They’ve been at that level for several weeks, and what it’s been moving in the right direction. (1) Biohazard beat Matt Black via submission in 8:05 Biohazard was subbing for Lance Christian. Black stinks. He was moving at half speed and his selling was bland and lifeless. Biohazard beat the snot out of Black. Biohazard humiliated him, hit a spinning enzuigiri, and sent him to la-la land with the Prey for Death. (2) Scott Steele beat Bobby Sanford (with Greg Brown & Quentin Michaels) in 4:33 This was a return match after Bad Company screwed Steele the first time. Sanford has wormed his way into Bad Company. Sanford first endeared himself to BC by helping Greg Brown retain the GCW title. Brown had been pressed into service as a stand-in for David Young. Sanford’s next stunt was to help Chris Stevens win the GCW Television Title. Sanford then stepped in as Stevens’ partner (subbing for Young) and they became the new tag champs. Scott has a great new hairline to go with that great physique. It appeared that Scott was going to overpower Sanford until he missed a legdrop at 3:15. Sanford hit a back suplex for a near fall. Scott came back with a powerslam. Brown distracted Steele. Sanford was cocked and ready with the superkick, but Scott blocked it and speared Sanford out of his boots for the pin. The finish got a big pop. The Bad Company crew consisting of Stevens, Sanford, Brown and Michaels entered the ring. Michaels gets a ton of heat in the role of BC’s slimy attorney. He got the “weasel” chant. Michaels said David Young was yet to arrive at the building for his title match against A. J. Steele due to the world’s worst traffic. Michaels guaranteed that Young would be there. With “Start Me Up” blasting over the PA, Jerry Oates marched down the ramp. Michaels cowered behind the other members of BC. Oates said he was tired of the excuses. (He wasn’t the only one. This was third time in the last two months, and second week in succession that Young has failed to appear as advertised. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but inevitably, that bait-and-switch crap will bite you in the ass.) Oates said a member of Bad Company would have to face A. J. Stevens immediately volunteered. Oates said OK, but Stevens would have to put his TV title up against Scotty Beach to get the heavyweight title shot. Stevens said no problem. (3) Mercedes beat Rock-C in 6:28 This was a case of wrestlers who are competent enough to be carried to a good match and totally incompetent at carrying someone else. A reliable source informed me that Amy Young was able to get decent matches out of each of these women. Rock-C can’t be much past 18. It wasn’t bad as long as they stuck to the basics. The situation degenerated from there. They traded miserable lariats. Rock-C used a less then perfect Perfect Plex for a near fall. They collided. The finishing sequence was the pits. Rock-C did a reverse roll up that would make Pat O’Connor roll over in his grave. Mercedes hit a powerslam and let up on the pin before the ref got to three. Mercedes faces Young next Saturday. They cut to backstage on the big screen where Shaun Banks and Cru Jones were provoking a confrontation with Erik Watts. Watts was inside a fenced off workout area doing triceps extensions. Insert your own joke here about Watts’ workout regimen these days. Trash talking ensued. The end result was that Banks and Jones locked Watts inside the cage. That left Heath Miller without a partner for their tag match later in the show. (4) Scotty Beach beat Chris Stevens to win the GCW Television Title in 9:25 Beach has been trying to earn his Bad Company membership card. Problem is he ruined Stevens’ title shot last week by accidentally hitting him with brass knucks. Stevens was teeing off on Beach right from the opening bell. He beat on him and beat on him. Then he beat on him some more. Beach’s chest looked like raw hamburger. Beach got nothing more than the occasional weak comeback. Stevens got a zillion near falls. Stevens used a kneedrop off the middle rope. Stevens choked Beach with his shirt. Stevens hit a sweet spinning vertical suplex. Stevens stretched Beach with a camel clutch and a crossface. Beach appeared to have nothing left. Stevens hit a major league superplex, but Beach rolled a shoulder to escape a nonchalant cover. When Stevens followed up with a big powerbomb attempt, Beach overbalanced and got the pin with a firm grasp on the ropes. The finish got over well. Credit Beach with a great job selling the beating. Brown shook hands with Beach. It pained Michaels, but he also shook hands with Beach. Stevens started to raise Beach’s hand and then left him laying with a DDT. (5) Heath Miller & Erik Watts (with John Bogie) beat Cru Jones & Shaun Banks in 17:38 Miller came out with Bogie. Apparently, Watts was still locked in the cage, which was lame. At this point, Watts had been in there for 30 minutes, including an intermission. It’s not like he was stashed in some secret underground bunker. If they were hell bent on going this route, they could have built the drama by cutting to Watts as he attempted to escape. Jones instructed the ref to enforce the contract, forcing Miller to go one on two. Bogie stayed at ringside looking disinterested. The storyline has teased trouble in paradise between Bogie and Watts, from the moment they lost the tag titles 3 weeks ago. The one against two was a brilliant idea, as it produced what was by far, the best match of the night. Miller, Jones and Banks show great chemistry with their ringwork. They worked a fast pace (ref Steve Miller was gassing by the end), but not too fast, and the timing was right there on everything. All three have it athletically. Banks has definitely been eating his vitamins. Banks is also a fearless bump taker, and he’s come a long way with his ring presence. Miller has improved a ton over the last year. I’ve said this before, but Jones is so much better as a heel. Miller isolated Jones on his side of the ring and outwrestled him for a good five minutes. Jones distracted the ref and Banks clubbed Miller from behind. Banks got too cocky and missed with a ridiculous moonwalk elbow drop. Miller went after Jones and Banks blindsided him again. The crowd got behind Miller. They let it build before Banks exploded with a dropkick. The heels started to wear Miller down. Miller rallied with a flying lariat. Jones locked in a grounded sleeper. Miller’s arm dropped twice, but he wiggled his fingers the third time. Banks cut Miller off with a leg lariat and a DDT for near falls. Miller finally put Banks on the deck and made a wobbly climb to the top. But no water in the pool for Miller’s high crossbody. Watts ran down the ramp to take the tag. Yes, the crowd popped for it. Bogie joined Watts on the apron. Miller simultaneously hit a bulldog on Banks and a lariat on Jones. Great timing spot to set up the hot tag. Watts took Jones out with a downward spiral and powerbombed Banks into the turnbuckles. Watts pinned Banks with a lariat, as Miller crushed Jones’ save attempt. Best pop of the night. Watts and Miller celebrated in the postmatch, but there wasn’t much love for Bogie. (6) A. J. Steele beat Chris Stevens (with Greg Brown & Quentin Michaels) to retain the GCW Heavyweight Title in 10:05 A. J. has the size you want in a credible heavyweight champion, but none of the aura. Somebody give this man a fashion consultation stat. A. J. got the big pop for his intro, but Stevens received a pretty favorable response as well. With Young no longer in Columbus on a regular basis, Stevens is the top dog on the current roster, title belts notwithstanding. I guess he’s just not tall enough for WWE. There was an awesome spot in the opening minute where they did a test of strength and Stevens spit right in A. J.’s face. A. J. fired up. A dropkick was good for a two count. But A. J. missed with a flying knee and smacked it on the turnbuckle. Stevens wrapped the knee around the ringpost. Stevens switched to the right knee. It didn’t look random. A. J. ended up hanging off the apron and showed great fire fighting up from the bottom. Stevens locked in a figure four. Blood started to dribble out of a cut on A. J.’s head that had been opened up the week before. Stevens threw some great looking punches here and reapplied the figure four. A. J. reversed it. Stevens appeared to be in agony, forcing him to relinquish the hold. They exchanged punches. A. J. got the better of it. A. J. applied a sloppy sharpshooter. Michaels distracted and Brown helped Stevens make the ropes. A. J. hit a spiral slam and made the cover. While Brown got on the apron to distract, Beach ran down and tried to break up the pin with a moonsault. You know the rest. Next week’s card is headlined by Stevens vs. Young. Will they go for three no shows in a row? There hasn’t been even a hint of visible dissension between the former champions. Not that the seeds haven’t been planted. NOTES: This was the last night of my “Spring Fling II Tour.” I’ve seen 36 matches in four days in four different cities. It will wind up as a 1000+ mile loop. That ain’t squat compared to what the boys would do in the territory days, and I can’t begin to imagine the grind of doing it week in and week out. That’s not to say that I regret one minute of it. Well, maybe select minutes of that WEW garbage…Besides Young vs. Stevens, the 4/15 card has Watts & Miller & Bogie vs. Jones & Banks & Sanford and A. J. Steele vs. Scott Steele…This week’s edition of GCW Television was preempted by the Masters’ golf tournament. The 30 minute show normally airs Saturday at 7pm on the CBS affialiate WRBL 3 …GCW plans to do a 2nd anniversary spectacular at the end of May or early June…According the GCW Ringside Report, Vordell Walker had knee surgery on 4/3, Jason Cross is still rehabbing from his shoulder injury, and Ted Oates has neck surgery scheduled for 4/10…Ticket prices at the GCW Arena have been raised from $10 for general admission and $12 for ringside to $12 and $15. |
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