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August 16, 2008
– Larry Goodman
Solo opening by Michael St. John this week. We saw a clip of Jerry Lynn hitting the TKO on Kid Kash as the time limit ran out. MSJ said
Commissioner Freddie Morton was working on signing a rematch. He hyped today’s main event: Tennessee Violence Authority
getting their tag title rematch against Tribal Nation, along with the Paul Adams’ problem solver, David Young vs. the problem Arrick
Andrews.
1 – ARRICK ANDREWS vs. DAVID YOUNG (with Paul Adams)
MSJ’s wayback comment of the week was comparing the look of the twin bald heads in the ring to the Von Brauners. Young was
brimming with overconfidence after taking Andrews off his feet a few times. The babyface comeback had Young bailing out to check his
grillwork. Young duped Andrews into a test of strength with predictable results. Andrews countered with an armdrag, and scored the only
near fall of the match. Andrews worked his way into a Fujiwara armbar. Young capitalized on Adams’ interference with a bigtime
DDT. Adams strutted around twirling his towel. The heat was extended use of the sleeper by Young. Andrews made a great comeback
from near death before eating a boot and going down face first. They exchanged big forearm shots. Andrews hit the floatover bulldog.
Both down for a count of eight with the crowd behind Andrews. Andrews fatigued but coming back. Andrews tried the ropes-mounted 10
punches, but Young shoved him off at five. Dragon’s Curse! Andrews made an agonizingly slow cover and was attacked by Rick
Santel. The heels doubled on the fallen Andrews until Tribal Nation made the save.
WINNER: Andrews via DQ at 11:06. I appreciated this match more after a repeat viewing. It was slower and more wrestling-based than I
expected, but it needed to be because of the way the episode was constructed. Technically, it was a fine. The hope spot out of the
sleeper was classic. Young is a great addition to the SAW roster. He does a lot of little things that end up making a big difference. It
helped that the crowd was really into Andrews.
Backstage, we saw High Society getting messaged by the Freak Squad. High Society was on cloud nine. They even did their catch
phrase lying down. A hairy set of hands moved into the frame. High Society started complaining about the rubdown being way too stiff.
The camera pulled back to show that unbeknownst to High Society, Chase Stevens and Adam Armor had replaced the Freak Squad.
They started whoomping the crap out of the heels all over the dressing room. The action spilled to down the ramp with High Society
getting hell beat out of them. Both refs came out but they were impotent. Armor snap-suplexed Michaels on the floor. Cut to Casey taking
a flatback bump on the concrete. Armor and Michaels made their way into the ring and referee Jim Kleckner signaled for the bell.
2 – HIGH SOCIETY (Sean Casey & Chris Michaels with the Freak Squad) vs. CHASE STEVENS & ADAM ARMOR
Adams said the only way the massage could have ended well was if Freak Squad got paid. Armor immediately snapped off a
huracanrana on Michaels. Casey got the jump on Armor but he tossed him over the top onto Michaels. Steven entered from the top with a
flying tackle on Casey for a two count. Stevens got another near fall with a rabbit lariat. Meanwhile, Armor wasn’t letting up on
Michaels on the outside. They swapped positions, with Stevens pounding Casey on the ramp. All four in the ring, and the faces whipped
High Society into each other. The Freak Squad came to ringside. The faces nutted a prone Casey on the post, and Stevens followed with
hesitation dropkick to the face. Armor nailed both members of High Society with beautiful dropkicks and each saved the other. All four in
the ring again with Armor and Stevens still kicking ass. Adams said Tiana had phenomenal legs but a butter face. Michaels took this
awesome flip bump where hung on the top turnbuckle forever and did a belly flop back into the ring. Casey stepped aside, and Armor
posted his own shoulder. Advantage High Society. Casey hit a slice ‘n dice legdrop off the ropes on Armor. Casey dragged Armor onto
the ramp and hammered away. Inside the ring, Stevens came back with a flying headscissors on Michaels. It was non-stop brawling
inside and outside the ring with the camera cutting back and forth. At one point, Kleckner was slow to count a pin attempt, and Adams
gave him credit for knowing who was legal. MSJ rightfully said he didn’t think there was such a thing. High Society hit a double team
powerdrive on Armor, and Stevens saved. Michaels decked Stevens with a haymaker. With carnage all around, Michaels went to the top.
They did a four-way man of doom spot with Michaels taking a superplex. It was well worth the replay. Round robin of big moves here.
Michaels creamed Stevens with one of the best superkicks you would ever want to see. Armor caught Michaels with an enzuigiri to the
back of the head, but Michaels kicked out of the pin. Armor reversed Michaels’s slingshot suplex into an O’Connor Roll. Casey
reversed the pile and jumped back out of the ring to clasp Michaels’ hand. Kleckner made the three count with Michaels pulling the
trunks right in front of him.
WINNER: High Society in 12:45. For pure action, I can’t think of a SAW match that was any better. It was basically a Texas Tornado,
balls to the wall the entire way. Kleckner called for the bell and counted the pin, and that was about it. Props to all four men. The
switcheroo on the prematch massage was a stroke of genius. The tower of doom was memorable, as was that vicious superkick by
Michaels. Match wasn’t without its faults. They had to sweeten sound to cover up for a pretty dead crowd, and they didn’t look very
alive on camera. Ref Jim Kleckner was hopelessly out of position on the pin.
The bumper was an inset promo by Tribal Nation. Outlaw basically said they were on the war path and they did some war whoops at the
end – lame, generic stuff.
We saw a close up of a toy army on a concrete floor - black and white footage with “White Rabbit� beginning to play in the
background. We heard the voice of Marc Anthony.
�Gentleman. Finally, my Uncle Ronnie P has heard my pleas, has felt (laughs softly to himself) my anguish and my thirst to begin,
what we have set out to do gentleman.�
The camera pulled back to show Anthony on his knees, plunger in his hand, addressing his troops at ringside inside an empty SAW Mill.
�Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. LOOK AROUND. No one’s home. We are here and they have no idea, gentleman. Tonight is the night we etch
our name in stone, in the history books of the human race. And with my Uncle Ronnie P guiding us, gentleman, we will inflict the pain. We
will hurt people. The SAW Mill will never see a blade so sharp, will never feel a cut so deep, gentleman. This place and the people who
dwell in it will never be the same.�
Anthony cracked himself over the head with the plunger, snapping it in two. He began to bark and fixed his gaze at the SAW insignia
hanging on the wall.
3 – SAW Tag Team Title Match: TRIBAL NATION (Lennox Lightfoot & Indian Outlaw) (c) vs. TENNESSEE VIOLENCE AUTHORITY
(Hammerjack & Matt Dillinger with Paul Adams)
Adams got in the ring like he was ready to take on Tribal Nation single handedly. TVA used the distraction to ambush the Indians. The
bell rang – not that Kurt Herron signaled for it or anything. Outlaw managed to break down a TVA double team. Outlaw then gave
Lightfoot a gorilla press over the top, bowling over TVA and Adams as they were attempting to regroup. The Indians took the battle to TVA.
Back inside, Tribal Nation worked on the collective arms of TVA, until Adams pulled the top rope down to spill Outlaw over the top. TVA
beat on Outlaw. They used a big boot/swinging neckbreaker combo, and Lightfoot was in for the save. Outlaw kicked out of a pair of
Dillinger suplexes and started to fire back with punches. Dillinger was reeling, so he threw Outlaw down by the hair. Dillinger hit a
slingshot legdrop for a near fall. Outlaw reversed a whip and gave Dillinger a back body drop. TVA wanted to double on Outlaw, but he did
a Morton roll to make the tag. Leaping tomahawk chops by Lightfoot. He used Dillinger’s back as a springboard for a dropsault on
Hammerjack. It broke down to four-way action. The Indians took out Hammerjack with a double dropkick before hitting the Totem Pole on
Dillinger. As soon as Lightfoot covered, Santel attacked him for the DQ. Andrews hit the ring and pounded on Santel. He was jumped
from behind by David Young. A-Team beat down the outnumbered babyfaces. Dillinger was nailing them with his pool cue as the show
ended.
WINNER: Tribal Nation retained the titles via DQ in 9:36. Decent, but there was no way they could follow the previous match. This was as
good as Dillinger could make it. That guy is one hell of a worker. Outlaw threw some great looking punches. Too bad he sells like a slug.
The finish was heat booking 101.
Closing Thoughts: As pure a wrestling program as SAW has ever aired- 33 minutes of bell-to-bell action. High Society vs. Adams &
Stevens stole the show. It was among the best matches in company history and totally blew away the main event, which was hyped last
week...This show was booked in a manner that reminded me of Randy Hales’ style in Memphis – where babyface triumph was
fleeting, and the heels were constant spoilsports…It was another brilliant performance by Marc Anthony. It was one of my personal
favorites, but it’s tough to pick because they’ve all been good…I think Tribal Nation is better off letting their wrestling do the
talking…This was the final show from the taping where they had to add commentary afterwards with Reno Riggs. It’s just not the
same without MSJ and Reno Riggins doing it live…On the August 18 edition of Jerkin’ the Curtain, Reno criticized Hammerjackâ
€™s slack performances of late. Dillinger certainly carried the load in this match…Rob Roy McCoy missed this taping, and wasn’t
mentioned. That can’t be a good sign…The refereeing continues to be consistently inconsistent...They had to set temporarily shelf
the program revolving around Shawn Shultz, T. J. Harley and Miss Worthington due to Shultz’s head injury. It’s great to hear heâ
€™s well on the road to recovery.
– Larry Goodman
Solo opening by Michael St. John this week. We saw a clip of Jerry Lynn hitting the TKO on Kid Kash as the time limit ran out. MSJ said
Commissioner Freddie Morton was working on signing a rematch. He hyped today’s main event: Tennessee Violence Authority
getting their tag title rematch against Tribal Nation, along with the Paul Adams’ problem solver, David Young vs. the problem Arrick
Andrews.
1 – ARRICK ANDREWS vs. DAVID YOUNG (with Paul Adams)
MSJ’s wayback comment of the week was comparing the look of the twin bald heads in the ring to the Von Brauners. Young was
brimming with overconfidence after taking Andrews off his feet a few times. The babyface comeback had Young bailing out to check his
grillwork. Young duped Andrews into a test of strength with predictable results. Andrews countered with an armdrag, and scored the only
near fall of the match. Andrews worked his way into a Fujiwara armbar. Young capitalized on Adams’ interference with a bigtime
DDT. Adams strutted around twirling his towel. The heat was extended use of the sleeper by Young. Andrews made a great comeback
from near death before eating a boot and going down face first. They exchanged big forearm shots. Andrews hit the floatover bulldog.
Both down for a count of eight with the crowd behind Andrews. Andrews fatigued but coming back. Andrews tried the ropes-mounted 10
punches, but Young shoved him off at five. Dragon’s Curse! Andrews made an agonizingly slow cover and was attacked by Rick
Santel. The heels doubled on the fallen Andrews until Tribal Nation made the save.
WINNER: Andrews via DQ at 11:06. I appreciated this match more after a repeat viewing. It was slower and more wrestling-based than I
expected, but it needed to be because of the way the episode was constructed. Technically, it was a fine. The hope spot out of the
sleeper was classic. Young is a great addition to the SAW roster. He does a lot of little things that end up making a big difference. It
helped that the crowd was really into Andrews.
Backstage, we saw High Society getting messaged by the Freak Squad. High Society was on cloud nine. They even did their catch
phrase lying down. A hairy set of hands moved into the frame. High Society started complaining about the rubdown being way too stiff.
The camera pulled back to show that unbeknownst to High Society, Chase Stevens and Adam Armor had replaced the Freak Squad.
They started whoomping the crap out of the heels all over the dressing room. The action spilled to down the ramp with High Society
getting hell beat out of them. Both refs came out but they were impotent. Armor snap-suplexed Michaels on the floor. Cut to Casey taking
a flatback bump on the concrete. Armor and Michaels made their way into the ring and referee Jim Kleckner signaled for the bell.
2 – HIGH SOCIETY (Sean Casey & Chris Michaels with the Freak Squad) vs. CHASE STEVENS & ADAM ARMOR
Adams said the only way the massage could have ended well was if Freak Squad got paid. Armor immediately snapped off a
huracanrana on Michaels. Casey got the jump on Armor but he tossed him over the top onto Michaels. Steven entered from the top with a
flying tackle on Casey for a two count. Stevens got another near fall with a rabbit lariat. Meanwhile, Armor wasn’t letting up on
Michaels on the outside. They swapped positions, with Stevens pounding Casey on the ramp. All four in the ring, and the faces whipped
High Society into each other. The Freak Squad came to ringside. The faces nutted a prone Casey on the post, and Stevens followed with
hesitation dropkick to the face. Armor nailed both members of High Society with beautiful dropkicks and each saved the other. All four in
the ring again with Armor and Stevens still kicking ass. Adams said Tiana had phenomenal legs but a butter face. Michaels took this
awesome flip bump where hung on the top turnbuckle forever and did a belly flop back into the ring. Casey stepped aside, and Armor
posted his own shoulder. Advantage High Society. Casey hit a slice ‘n dice legdrop off the ropes on Armor. Casey dragged Armor onto
the ramp and hammered away. Inside the ring, Stevens came back with a flying headscissors on Michaels. It was non-stop brawling
inside and outside the ring with the camera cutting back and forth. At one point, Kleckner was slow to count a pin attempt, and Adams
gave him credit for knowing who was legal. MSJ rightfully said he didn’t think there was such a thing. High Society hit a double team
powerdrive on Armor, and Stevens saved. Michaels decked Stevens with a haymaker. With carnage all around, Michaels went to the top.
They did a four-way man of doom spot with Michaels taking a superplex. It was well worth the replay. Round robin of big moves here.
Michaels creamed Stevens with one of the best superkicks you would ever want to see. Armor caught Michaels with an enzuigiri to the
back of the head, but Michaels kicked out of the pin. Armor reversed Michaels’s slingshot suplex into an O’Connor Roll. Casey
reversed the pile and jumped back out of the ring to clasp Michaels’ hand. Kleckner made the three count with Michaels pulling the
trunks right in front of him.
WINNER: High Society in 12:45. For pure action, I can’t think of a SAW match that was any better. It was basically a Texas Tornado,
balls to the wall the entire way. Kleckner called for the bell and counted the pin, and that was about it. Props to all four men. The
switcheroo on the prematch massage was a stroke of genius. The tower of doom was memorable, as was that vicious superkick by
Michaels. Match wasn’t without its faults. They had to sweeten sound to cover up for a pretty dead crowd, and they didn’t look very
alive on camera. Ref Jim Kleckner was hopelessly out of position on the pin.
The bumper was an inset promo by Tribal Nation. Outlaw basically said they were on the war path and they did some war whoops at the
end – lame, generic stuff.
We saw a close up of a toy army on a concrete floor - black and white footage with “White Rabbit� beginning to play in the
background. We heard the voice of Marc Anthony.
�Gentleman. Finally, my Uncle Ronnie P has heard my pleas, has felt (laughs softly to himself) my anguish and my thirst to begin,
what we have set out to do gentleman.�
The camera pulled back to show Anthony on his knees, plunger in his hand, addressing his troops at ringside inside an empty SAW Mill.
�Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. LOOK AROUND. No one’s home. We are here and they have no idea, gentleman. Tonight is the night we etch
our name in stone, in the history books of the human race. And with my Uncle Ronnie P guiding us, gentleman, we will inflict the pain. We
will hurt people. The SAW Mill will never see a blade so sharp, will never feel a cut so deep, gentleman. This place and the people who
dwell in it will never be the same.�
Anthony cracked himself over the head with the plunger, snapping it in two. He began to bark and fixed his gaze at the SAW insignia
hanging on the wall.
3 – SAW Tag Team Title Match: TRIBAL NATION (Lennox Lightfoot & Indian Outlaw) (c) vs. TENNESSEE VIOLENCE AUTHORITY
(Hammerjack & Matt Dillinger with Paul Adams)
Adams got in the ring like he was ready to take on Tribal Nation single handedly. TVA used the distraction to ambush the Indians. The
bell rang – not that Kurt Herron signaled for it or anything. Outlaw managed to break down a TVA double team. Outlaw then gave
Lightfoot a gorilla press over the top, bowling over TVA and Adams as they were attempting to regroup. The Indians took the battle to TVA.
Back inside, Tribal Nation worked on the collective arms of TVA, until Adams pulled the top rope down to spill Outlaw over the top. TVA
beat on Outlaw. They used a big boot/swinging neckbreaker combo, and Lightfoot was in for the save. Outlaw kicked out of a pair of
Dillinger suplexes and started to fire back with punches. Dillinger was reeling, so he threw Outlaw down by the hair. Dillinger hit a
slingshot legdrop for a near fall. Outlaw reversed a whip and gave Dillinger a back body drop. TVA wanted to double on Outlaw, but he did
a Morton roll to make the tag. Leaping tomahawk chops by Lightfoot. He used Dillinger’s back as a springboard for a dropsault on
Hammerjack. It broke down to four-way action. The Indians took out Hammerjack with a double dropkick before hitting the Totem Pole on
Dillinger. As soon as Lightfoot covered, Santel attacked him for the DQ. Andrews hit the ring and pounded on Santel. He was jumped
from behind by David Young. A-Team beat down the outnumbered babyfaces. Dillinger was nailing them with his pool cue as the show
ended.
WINNER: Tribal Nation retained the titles via DQ in 9:36. Decent, but there was no way they could follow the previous match. This was as
good as Dillinger could make it. That guy is one hell of a worker. Outlaw threw some great looking punches. Too bad he sells like a slug.
The finish was heat booking 101.
Closing Thoughts: As pure a wrestling program as SAW has ever aired- 33 minutes of bell-to-bell action. High Society vs. Adams &
Stevens stole the show. It was among the best matches in company history and totally blew away the main event, which was hyped last
week...This show was booked in a manner that reminded me of Randy Hales’ style in Memphis – where babyface triumph was
fleeting, and the heels were constant spoilsports…It was another brilliant performance by Marc Anthony. It was one of my personal
favorites, but it’s tough to pick because they’ve all been good…I think Tribal Nation is better off letting their wrestling do the
talking…This was the final show from the taping where they had to add commentary afterwards with Reno Riggs. It’s just not the
same without MSJ and Reno Riggins doing it live…On the August 18 edition of Jerkin’ the Curtain, Reno criticized Hammerjackâ
€™s slack performances of late. Dillinger certainly carried the load in this match…Rob Roy McCoy missed this taping, and wasn’t
mentioned. That can’t be a good sign…The refereeing continues to be consistently inconsistent...They had to set temporarily shelf
the program revolving around Shawn Shultz, T. J. Harley and Miss Worthington due to Shultz’s head injury. It’s great to hear heâ
€™s well on the road to recovery.
| SHOW REPORTS |
