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| SHOW REPORTS |
| Copyright © Georgia Wrestling History, Inc.
All rights reserved. |
| September 27, 2008
The opening was a rerun of last week. 1 – Wartown Street Fight: HOT LIKE LAVA (Cru Jones & Shaun Banks) vs. A.J. STEELE & JASON CROSS Lava laid in wait at the entrance way with steel chairs, but the ambushees jumped the ambushers. Cross gave Banks a shot into Nightmare’s gimmick table. Sal Rinauro picked up on it on the commentary. “Right into those finely crafted masks…” One nutty spot after another. Banks took a chair to the head and this wicked looking bump into the post. The faces put a trash can to good use. Rinauro said it was the first time he had ever seen anyone (Steele) back chop a chair. Steele hit a slingshot senton on Banks. The faces absolutely tore Banks up with chops in this match. Cross busted out his psychotic corkscrew tope over the top. Cross missed with a Shooting Star Press on Jones. Numerous shots of Banks and Steele whipping the bejeezus out of each other with a belt. Cross reversed a whip sending Jones head first into a wedged chair, but Jones got a foot on the ropes. Cross hit a picture perfect pescado on Banks. Rinauro said “Mr. Glass” Jason Cross might not make it through the match without injury. Cross made two attempts to put Banks through a table, one of them a swanton bomb off a four foot wall, but this wasn’t one of those flimsy pressed wood jobs. No give at all which had to suck for both of them. Jones kicked out of the Steele City Bomb. Cross delivered a dropkick and spinkick on the carpeted floor. Rinauro said Banks had had better days. Lava ended up in the dreaded 69 position. Cross “made it a dogpile” with a rolling senton. Jones took a rare trip to the top rope and missed a swanton bomb on Steele. Jones and Steele battled to the back. Banks gave Cross an over-the-shoulder piledriver. A pasty looking masked man entered the ring with a Mr. Wrestling II kneelift on Banks. Cross hit the BEST DAMN BRAINBUSTER IN NORTH AMERICA on Banks for the pin. WINNER: Steele and Cross in 17:55 after interference by the masked man. Epic stuff. An insanely brutal match. All four were all out, all the way. They absorbed some ridiculous punishment, especially Banks. Cross was flying around like his heyday in NWA Wildside. His striking looked stellar. It was hilarious the way Rinauro was eating up Baxter Massingale on commentary. The Diamond Mine (Kodiak & Frankie Valentine with Ace Diamond) made their presence known. Kodiak gave Cross a Batista Bomb. Valentine followed with a moonsault. Diamond covered Cross while Valentine made a three count. Adonis led the babyface side of the locker room into the ring for the save. The Diamond Mine celebrated with a promo. Diamond said they had received “spiritual help” from Vordell Walker. Valentine said Cross was nothing more than a has been to give him a good little pump before he went out with the ladies. An enraged Hot Like Lava was interviewed by Katie Mayer. Banks said Gayton was the two foot tall Captain America that just cost them the match. Jones blew Mayer off by telling her to go buy them a Coke. ”Gayton, I’m on it. I’ve got people high places…We all know you’ve got to be this tall to ride this ride, so get a phone book, schmuck.” Mayer interviewed Dr. Gayton. He played dumb about identity of the masked man. Gayton joked about Banks looking hot wearing lipstick. His delivery put the gay in Gayton. He promised more pain and payback for Hot Like Lava. At 30 minutes into the show, we got a stand up opening by the debuting Dan Masters along with Mayer. 2 -- Championship Tournament Qualifying Match: ROB ADONIS vs. KODIAK (with Ace Diamond) Cut to promos by Adonis and Kodiak. Adonis said he didn’t like people from Russia he was going to take it out on Kodiak. Adonis said Kodiak was going to be defeated by his genetics. “Rob Adonis is the great thing to ever happen to Rampage Pro Wrestling.” Kodiak understood about Adonis. “22 inch arms, huge pecs, jacked traps, delts for days, why would he not hate me for my genetics?” Dan Masters Rinauro on commentary for the rest of the show. Adonis was an agile wrestling machine in the early going. He put Kodiak down with a spinwheel kick. Kodiak took command with a sidewalk slam work the back. Diamond interfered. Camel clutch by Kodiak. T-Bone Suplex out of nowhere by Adonis. Spinebuster but he didn’t get all of it and clutched at his back. Kodiak took a powder. ”Flying in from Alaska isn’t the easiest of chores, the air is a little thicker here in Warner Robins.” Kodiak whipped Adonis into the post. Adonis moved and Kodiak chugged into the post like a freight train for the knockdown. Adonis beat the 10 count. WINNER: Adonis via countout at 7:07. A serviceable match. The match babyfaced Adonis a lot better than his promo. Kodiak stayed within the limitations of his inexperience. The count out finish was fine. No way Kodiak should be losing clean at this point. Kodiak hit a full nelson slam on Adonis. Diamond laid down on Adonis, and Kodiak forced the ref to make a three count. Hurt the guy’s hand. A newly constituted Hot Like Lava of Cru Jones and Micah Taylor entered the ring with their unnamed attorney. Jones said Banks was highly allergic to the red number 57 lipstick Gayton used last week and ended up in ICU. (Didn’t we just see him wrestle?) Taylor said they were suing “Dr. Yoohoo” and would own everything. Taylor threatened to turn the Fun Center into a disco and make Katie their go-go dancer. The attorney said he had a subpoena for Gayton. Katie informed Lava that she had a letter from the Commissioner of RPW naming Gayton as the special referee for their match tonight and if they laid a hand him, they would be fined 10K and indefinitely suspended. The attorney asked why the Commissioner wasn’t out there. Katie said he had better things to do than deal with petty little wrestlers. Katie interviewed “The Black Superman” A.J. Steele, who claimed not to have clue one about the identity of the masked man. Katie said Adonis told her it was Thunderbolt Patterson. Steele set up a classic moment by asking Katie if she knew who Patterson was. ”I have no idea who Thunderbolt Patterson is. I just kinda went with it.” Katie was backstage with Kurosukaji. She couldn’t get an intelligible response out of him. Rinauro intervened. “Konichiwa. How’s it going home boy? I like the cut of your jib.” Rinauro invited to Kurosukaji to go party. 3 – Championship Tournament Qualifying Match: A. J. STEELE vs. KUROSUKAJI The mystery man from Japan bowed in respect to Steele’s wrestling skills and slapped him across the face. Steele responded with a clothesline, a press slam version of Snake Eyes, and a back suplex for a two count. After a stalling suplex by Steele, Kurosukaji rolled out to the floor in agony. Steele was unfazed by Kurosukaji’s chop. Kurosukaji begged as he was eating chops. Powerslam by Steele to set up his finisher, but Kurosukaji reversed it into a DDT for a near fall. Moments later, Steele killed Kurosukaji dead with the Steele City Bomb, bringing his victim off his shoulder into a spiraling sideslam. WINNER: Steele with the Steel City Bomb in 5:22. Just what it needed to be. Steele over strong and as good as I’ve ever seen him look on offense. Nice job by Kurosukaji. Nice name, too. To the ring with Dr. Gayton. The heel attorney came out talking lawsuit. Gayton invoked the Good Samaritan clause. He said he was just trying to help Shaun’s looks, and it was ambulance chasers like this guy that were making medical costs skyrocket. He told the joke about the difference between a catfish and an attorney. The attorney tried to serve a subpoena. Gayton wasn’t having any, so the attorney slapped him in the face with it. Gayton gave the attorney a back suplex and a Samoan Drop, and was beating on the guy as the show went off the air. THOUGHTS: Anytime you have a match like the Lava vs. Cross & Steele, you’ve got the raw material for a good show. Violent weapons-filled brawls don’t come much better. Presented without context, even the best matches lose most of their impact. They were beating the living hell out of each other, but they never explained why the viewers should care. Even worse, Banks does the match but by midway through the show, he’s said to be in ICU due to what happened last week. Huh? It doesn’t have to be fancy. Open with a recap of the atrocities Lava had committed against Gayton and the clip of Gayton vowing to get even. Then, insert a segment explaining that Gayton made the streetfight match and the footage we are about to see was taped after the show went off the air last week…The wrestling talent was once again the strong point with the babyface side getting more of the spotlight. The tournament qualifier matches were solid. The talking by the wrestlers was fine. They would be better off leaving the talking to experience talkers.…In and of themselves, the booking ideas were fine, but they couldn’t overcome the horrible editing and formatting. For the second week in a row, they announced a match FOR TODAY that never happened. The inring segment with Hot Lava should have been cut as soon as Micah finished talking. What followed between Katie and the attorney was grade school play level bad. Where’s Jeff G. Bailey when you need him?...Katie is so clueless it’s entertaining. The T-Bolt rib was hilarious…Kodiak can cut a good promo, but they need to get their story straight on his heritage. Is he a Russian or Alaskan, and why does he talk like he grew up within 50 miles of the building?...A clear explanation of the championship tournament would really help…On the bright side, Rinauro and Masters made a smooth, professional sounding announcing team. A definite upgrade… The camera work was generally quite good, especially the challenges presented by the street fight…I had no problem with Gayton beating up some stick-boy attorney. A little pent up aggression about bottom feeding lawyers there? If Gayton is going to be physically involved in angles, they need to fully explain his legit powerlifting credentials. Gayton holds several age group records in drug-free powerlifting competitions. A far better show than last week, but frustrating to watch because it could have been so much better. |