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| SHOW REPORTS |
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| August 2, 2008
The show opened with Charming Charles talking to himself about there being no video proof of Ali Stevens winning the Mid-America Heavyweight Title. Charles called up NWA Executive Director Bob Trobich to file a protest. Trobich wanted Charles in Charlotte pronto. Charles said he would be there. “Charmin’, you done done it” he said. A pumpkin pie made by the Mrs. was randomly sitting on the desk. Charles took it out to cool. 1 -- KYLE MAGGARD & “Driller” EDDIE BROWNING vs. “Playboy” SCOTT HAYES & RYAN STONE JIP with Browning beating on Stone. Announcers Jason James and Tyler Clemens did a “RyanStone Cowboy” joke. They talked about how the video footage would show Snake Jones getting up from everything Stevens had to offer. Browning drilled the mat on a middle rope fist drop. Hot tag off the double down spot. Hayes drilled Maggard with a series of punches in the corner. The faces won it with a double pin – Hayes hit a stunner WINNERS: Hayes and Stone. Not much to it until the very end. The twin finishers rocked. Hayes threw those punches in the corner exactly like Jerry Lawler. 2 – LONESTAR (with Penelope) vs. SIR LANTE Huge and I mean HUGE size mismatch with Lonestar being over 300 pounds easy. Penelope interfered freely. Lante rolled Lonestar up for a pin, but Penelope was distracting, and Lonestar cut him off with a wicked lariat. Clemens said Lonestar was part of the goon squad Jeff Daniels was assembling to combat the arrival of “Boogie Woogie Boy” Gary Valiant. Lonestar pinned Lonte with the Lonestar Slam. WINNER: Lonestar at 4:20. His finisher is a cross between a sitout slam and Michinoku Driver. This was generally ugly. Lonte’s limited offense looked silly. Lonestar is not in shape. But it had its moments – like Penelope wailing on Lonte and that Stan Hansen lariat by Lonestar. We saw Little Booger sneaking out of the parking lot to steal the pie that Charles had set out to cool. He tried feed it to “Mr. Jones,” who was chained to a boat trailer in the back yard. Snake grunted. Charles caught Booger red-handed with the pie. Booger pleaded ignorance. Charles kayfabed him about the identity of “Mr. Jones.” Charles tasked Booger with accompanying Jones to the Fairgrounds, so he could TCOB in Charlotte. “Welcome to the rasslin’ business, kid.” 3 – Mid-America Television Champion SHANE SMALLS vs. LT FALK in non-title match JIP with a battle of fast-paced chain wrestling maneuvers underway. James brought up that Falk lost the TV title to Smalls in a fatal four-way without being pinned. Clemens said he heard Falk would earn a title shot by winning this match. Falk hit a flying headscissors and tried for a second one, but Smalls countered by ramming Falk’s back into the turnbuckles. Smalls worked over Falk’s back with high impact moves. In a fit of frustration, Smalls tossed Falk out of the ring and punished his back against the ring apron. Back inside, Falk barely rolled a shoulder before the three count. The crowd brought Falk to life. They started to trade and Falk got the better it. Falk spun Smalls around and sent him down on his face with an enzuigiri. Both men slow to rise. Falk chopped the bejeezus out of Smalls’ chest. Smalls used a short arm back elbow and stunned Falks with a back suplex. Falk got a shoulder up on three consecutive pin attempts. Falk summoned a burst of energy to pin Smalls with an O’Connor Roll. WINNER: LT Falk in 6:30 of TV time. These two are simply incapable of having a bad match. Their style is a technical as it gets in NWA-ME. Falk is a dynamo as a babyface. Those chops looked hellacious. Promo by Smalls. He called Falk’s win a fluke. Smalls said he had beaten Falk before and he would do it again. Smalls promised to unleash his entire arsenal on Falk when the title was on the line. 4 – “Boogie Woogie Boy” GARY VALIANT (with Miss Boogie) vs. “The New Age Assassin” TIM RENESTO Valiant was picking Renesto apart in the early going. Clemens said the bounty on Valiant had been doubled to 50K this week. He talked about the crowd being more amped since Valiant’s arrival in NWAME. Holy s***! Valiant just busted out a ropes walk Lucha style arm drag. Valiant worked the arm and maneuvered Renesto into a cross armbreaker. Back from commercial, Renesto ducked under Valiant’s high crossbody. Renesto applied a Kimura. Valiant’s leg was shaking like a crazy. Renesto used a double chop followed by double leg drop to the groin. Valiant bridged out of one of Renesto’s attempt. Haven’t seen that in a while. Renesto took a great leaping crotch bump on the middle turnbuckle to set up Valiant’s comeback. Valiant came off the top rope onto ref Jamie Ferrari when Renesto moved. The action spilled to ringside with Valiant beating on Renesto and whacking him with a chair. Ferrari came to and DQed Valiant. WINNER: Renesto via DQ. Valiant did more actual wrestling here than in any of his SAW matches. Renesto is a good opponent for him. Valiant was beating on Renesto back by the heel dressing room when he was attacked by Jeff Daniels and Lonestar. They dragged Valiant back through the curtain. Back from commercial break, the heels dumped Valiant back out of the dressing room with a trash barrel over his head. Clemens said there was no telling what went on back there. He said it looked like the bounty had been collected. 5 – ALI STEVENS vs. SNAKE JONES (with Little Booger) Joined in progress with Stevens and Jones at the top of the balcony bleachers. Stevens smashed Snake’s head into the wall, and Snake tumbled down to bleachers to where he almost rolled off the balcony. Stevens’ bad hip gave way on him and sank down in the bleachers. Snake sat up. They set up a spot where Snake was dangling from the railing before falling to the arena floor below – James called it a 15 foot drop. Snake’s feet were maybe 8 feet from the floor. Nutty stuff in any case. Snake sat up. He limped towards the balcony with security holding him back. Stevens hobbled over and did a dive off the railing that took down the whole mess of them. Stevens appeared to be in excruciating pain as he lay on the floor. Snake sat up again. Snake clamped on a headlock in order to literally drag Stevens over to the ring. The bell rang. Stevens posted Snake. He rolled Snake inside the ring. Stevens could barely roll himself into the ring. Snake sat up again and put Stevens in a choke hold. Security intervened to break it up. In a fit of rage, Snake mowed and I mean MOWED down all three security guards. Stevens locked the cobral clutch on one of the hapless security guards. Stevens blasted Snake with a balled up chain. Snake did not sit up. WINNER: Double DQ? No Contest? Hell if I know. The craziest train wreck of match you would ever want to see. This was gruesome to watch, but I couldn’t not watch it. There’s no way Stevens should be wrestling with his hip the way it is, much less doing a dive from 12 feet up onto a concrete floor. The fall from the balcony by Jones didn’t look that perilous on TV, but Rick Michaels was never the same after the injury he suffered when he tried a similar stunt at the Fairgrounds. That was one vicious bump that poor security guard took after the stiff kick to the chest from Jones. Promo by Stevens. He was in a semi-euphoric state. Stevens said that after running through the Main Event roster for months, his karma had finally caught up with him. For the first time, there’s somebody in that locker room that can take everything I got. And I love it! Baby, I love it! I want you to know, son, you’re going to bring it out. You’re going to bring out the D-O-Double G. You’re going to bring out the pit bull. And son, like I said, I don’t where you’re from, I don’t know who you are, but right now I feel sorry for ya. 6 – No Rules Taped Fist Match: “The Crippler” JEFF DANIELS vs. STEVE-O JIP with all the action taking place outside the ring. Daniels stapled Steve-O’s forehead and pounded him with taped fists. Steve-O bled. The footage shifted to black and white. James said the suits at ION had been taken the show off the air early due to the violence, and they were determined to stay on until the end this week. He gave a parental advisory. Inside the ring, Steve-O shocked Daniels by kicking out of his flying elbow drop. Daniels brought a chair in. Steve-O ducked and superkicked the chair into Daniels’ face. Daniels bladed right on camera. Steve-O hit a Thesz Press and was pounding away on Daniels when Renesto attacked for the DQ. Renesto stomped the bejeezus out of Steve-O’s back. Daniels started whipping Steve-O with his own belt until Valiant made the save. WINNER: Steve-O via DQ. Vintage hardcore violence. Daniels rules as a heel. It would have had more impact if it wasn’t on the same show with Stevens/Jones. The show closed with promos galore. Renesto said this was his second promo, because they had to censor the first one. Renesto said he didn’t care about the bounty any more. This was personal. He said Boogie had a rep as a shooter, but he had him screaming in the Kimura. Renesto said he was going to beat Boogie up Tuesday night. Valiant (with Miss Boogie) said Renesto stooped so low as to send one of his best friends, Ben Jordan, to take him out in Ashland City, but he couldn’t get the job done. Valiant said it was anything goes with no time limit and no DQ at the Fairgrounds Tuesday night. That meant he could use anything he wanted. He held up a section of bulletin board. Valiant said it was going to take more than Renesto and Daniels to put him out of commission. Steve-O had his back to camera – the better to display the welts Daniels put on his back. He said since Daniels liked to play with belts, he had gone to Mike Porter and demanded an Indian Leather Strap match for this Tuesday night. Steve-O took off his hat and pointed at his bandaged forehead. “Jeff Daniels, they don’t call you The Crippler for nothing, but you didn’t cripple me.” Steve-O said Daniels just made him angrier. Daniels said he was going to sign Daniels’ name on his back with the strap. Steve-O said the respect starts now. Daniels said he bled Steve-O like a hog, and beat him with his own belt, like he was one of his kids that missed curfew. Daniels was exuding evil. Daniels said after all the beatings he had give Steve-O, the boy had to be crazy to ask for a leather strap match. Daniels had a belt and was strapping something to emphasis his points. Daniels vowed that this would be the end. He was sick of Steve-O, and he was going to beat him to death. Closing Thoughts: Wow. The second half of this show was something else. The show closing promo by Daniels was tremendous. All of the promos were good. Steve-O showed serious fire. Valiant seemed more at home than he did in SAW. The violence level was way up. The Stevens/Jones segment was completely nuts. The question I have is when they give you this much on free TV, is there any reason to go to the live show? How much have they made people care about Steve-O and Valiant getting revenge on Daniels & Renesto? How much allure does violence at the level of early ECW have in 2008? I like the injection of veterans like Daniels, Valiant, Renesto and Lonestar. NWA ME no longer feels like the kiddie corp. I liked protest angle, and while utterly bizarre, the pie vignette with Booger was just too stupefying to be entertaining. They can do something with Hayes and not just because of the Lawler-look-alike factor, but it doesn’t hurt. The longer the match went on, the less impressive Lonestar looked. The shift of the Falk/Smalls program to the TV Title has placed it well above the X Title in importance. Falk losing the title without being pinned makes for a storyline, but I hate that they decided a singles title in a fatal four way. I thought James and Clemens did a good job of getting the storylines across. The audio was annoying as hell. Clemens was blaring, while the vignettes were barely audible. |