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November 15, 2008
– Larry Goodman
Opening with a new graphic and music, both changes for the better, and it’s right to the action with Jason James and promoter Mike
Porter on commentary.
1 – DYRON FLYNN vs. “New York Rocker� RICKY SYKS
The action was picked up during an all out assault by Flynn, such as it was. Syks made a brief freight train like comeback and pinned
Flynn with a spinning neckbreaker.
Winner: Syks in 1:35. No way Flynn should be seen on television unless he's sitting in the crowd.
James conducted a sitdown interview with Commissioner George Gulas in the ring at the Tennessee Fairgrounds Sports Arena. The big
news was the renaming of the Arena as the Nick Gulas Sports Arena and the awarding of the Nick Gulas Memorial Cup to the winner of
the Battle Royal (although Gulas referred to it as a tournament) at Tennessee Homecoming 2008 on Thanksgiving Night. Gulas got
choked up when he delivered the closing line.
�When the lights go out, and it gets dim. An the ring light is shining down, like it is on us. It’s going to shine a little brighter,
because my dad will be proud of me watching over the house that Nick Gulas built.�
Next up: dueling promos from Brian Christopher and Doug Gilbert for their match at Tennessee Homecoming. Christopher said he never
should have believed Gilbert (who turned on him at the Lawler 35 show) and he hated the entire Gilbert family. Gilbert promised a
resurgence of the Memphis Mafia. He also threatened to break Christopher’s neck.
2 – “Mean� MIKE WOODS vs. LARRY COOTER
Woods worked over Cooter’s arm. Cooter used a low blow to get the advantage. Cooter applied used that shitty looking cross
armbreaker again. Woods went down face first after absorbing a corner clothesline. Cooter tried to capitalize but missed with a middle
rope elbow drop. Woods leveled Cooter with the Clothesline from Hell. Chris Cain distracted Woods, and Cooter rolled Woods up with
his feet on the ropes.
Winner: Cooter in an edited time of 4:15 after distraction by Chris Cain. Elevating Cooter is a hopeless cause at this point, so this
program is a complete waste of Woods.
Cooter promo. He pinned Woods today and would do the same tonight in Portland (nope, different opponent) and again at the
Fairgrounds.
Woods: “Larry Cooter, I’ve been to the mountain top, and I look down at you." And that’s a shoot, pally.
3 -- CHRIS CAIN vs. AIDEN SCOTT
Cain bailed after eating a shoulder block and got flattened by Scott’s pescado. Back inside, Cain unloaded with strikes. Scott finally
countered one with a backslide. Cain answered with a spinning heel kick for a one count only. Scott took a backdrop over the turnbuckle
to the floor. That was nuts. Scott slipped on a springboard move. James called it springboard headbutt to the knee.
Postmatch: Cain jumped Scott with a back cracker and locked in an inverted cloverleaf until Steve-O and Syks made the save.
Winner: Scott in 3:55. Generally decent with occasional flashes of brilliance from Scott.
Scott promo. He was going to teach Cain a lesson in Portland.
Cain promo. He was climbing to the top and Scott was just another rung in the ladder.
4 -- NWA Mid America Heavyweight Champion JEFF DANIELS & SEVEN (with Dominique) vs. ALI STEVENS & “Playboy� SCOTT
HAYES
The babyface team cranked on Daniels’ arm with repeated interjections by Dominique. Seven reared back and punched Hayes in the
face to take over. Nice. Hayes had pinned Daniels pinned with a sunset flip, but Dominique had ref Mark Owens distracted. Daniels took
a flying crotch bump on the middle turnbuckle. Both men tagged. Stevens cleaned house and tumbled over the top clotheslining Seven.
Dominique did a crossbody onto Daniels and Hayes pinned both of them.
Winners: Hayes & Stevens in 7 minutes when Hayes illegally pinned Daniels and Dominique. Owens interrupted a 10 count on the legal
men to count the illegal pinfall. There were serious ring positioning problems during the house cleaning segment. The bright spot was
Seven.
Hayes promo. Said he would beat Daniels for the belt tonight in Portland and be wearing it next Tuesday at the Fairgrounds.
Daniels promo (with Dominique). He said Hayes wasn’t in his league.
Scott Hayes, you’re like a cold sore, I can’t seem to get rid of you.
Shane Smalls promo. Smalls said he was going to prove to O and all the viewers why he should still be the NWA Mid America Television
Champion. Didn’t say he was going to win though.
Steve-O said Smalls had two more title shots coming up. “You’ve been chasing me for weeks and still haven’t gotten the job
done.�
5 – NWA Mid America TV Championship Match: Champion STEVE-O vs.�Magnum� SHANE SMALLS
Lots of bailing and complaining out of Smalls. There was this great clothesline-leg lariat-dropkick sequence by O where Smalls showed
he can get up and down with the best of them. O telegraphed a backdrop to start the heat. Smalls worked the neck. Spinebuster by O for
the double down. Smalls with a swinging neckbreaker for a near fall. O with the superkick, but Smalls got a foot over the ropes at two.
Furious back and forth pinning combinations with the time winding down. Smalls bailed out with 20 seconds to go. Smalls ate a
superkick and O covered just before the time limit expired.
Winner: None. Steve-O retained the title in a 10 minute time limit draw. They were having a good match until it got sloppy in the final
minutes. Smalls taking a TO with 20 seconds to go was mind boggling.
Closing Thoughts: The thing I will remember about this show is the segment with Gulas under the ring lights at the Fairgrounds Arena.
Interesting historical content and the emotions rang true. I can’t see the battle royal being enough of a drawing card to bill it as a
main event. Almost all of the fans that relate to the Gulas era have moved on, one way or another. Besides which, they used a battle royal
as the gimmick match for the June big show. Christopher vs. Gilbert made sense as a main. At least they did an angle at Lawler 35 in
front of 600 likely ticket buyers…The promos covering multiple future matches tended to lack impact. It’s the promo cut for a
particular match on a particular night that gets to me (the Smalls promo on this show being a prime example…The tapes coming out of
LaVernge are a work in progress. Seeing the talent wrestling in an empty building makes for depressing viewing, especially when the
few fans they have look comatose.…Porter is OK on commentary in an old school kind of way, but this is much better show with the
team of James and Tyler Clemmons…They can do something with Seven. He’s a monster in the making. They booked him in a
handicap squash match (hopefully) at the Fairgrounds.…Charmin Charles hasn’t been on either of the shows since they moved the
tapings to Sundays in LaVergne. He was advertised as managing Bryan Casey at the Fairgrounds show. My, how the mighty have fallenâ
€¦The finish of the Daniels match was house show material. The goofy finish with the illegal pin did nothing for the shaky credibility of this
promotion.
– Larry Goodman
Opening with a new graphic and music, both changes for the better, and it’s right to the action with Jason James and promoter Mike
Porter on commentary.
1 – DYRON FLYNN vs. “New York Rocker� RICKY SYKS
The action was picked up during an all out assault by Flynn, such as it was. Syks made a brief freight train like comeback and pinned
Flynn with a spinning neckbreaker.
Winner: Syks in 1:35. No way Flynn should be seen on television unless he's sitting in the crowd.
James conducted a sitdown interview with Commissioner George Gulas in the ring at the Tennessee Fairgrounds Sports Arena. The big
news was the renaming of the Arena as the Nick Gulas Sports Arena and the awarding of the Nick Gulas Memorial Cup to the winner of
the Battle Royal (although Gulas referred to it as a tournament) at Tennessee Homecoming 2008 on Thanksgiving Night. Gulas got
choked up when he delivered the closing line.
�When the lights go out, and it gets dim. An the ring light is shining down, like it is on us. It’s going to shine a little brighter,
because my dad will be proud of me watching over the house that Nick Gulas built.�
Next up: dueling promos from Brian Christopher and Doug Gilbert for their match at Tennessee Homecoming. Christopher said he never
should have believed Gilbert (who turned on him at the Lawler 35 show) and he hated the entire Gilbert family. Gilbert promised a
resurgence of the Memphis Mafia. He also threatened to break Christopher’s neck.
2 – “Mean� MIKE WOODS vs. LARRY COOTER
Woods worked over Cooter’s arm. Cooter used a low blow to get the advantage. Cooter applied used that shitty looking cross
armbreaker again. Woods went down face first after absorbing a corner clothesline. Cooter tried to capitalize but missed with a middle
rope elbow drop. Woods leveled Cooter with the Clothesline from Hell. Chris Cain distracted Woods, and Cooter rolled Woods up with
his feet on the ropes.
Winner: Cooter in an edited time of 4:15 after distraction by Chris Cain. Elevating Cooter is a hopeless cause at this point, so this
program is a complete waste of Woods.
Cooter promo. He pinned Woods today and would do the same tonight in Portland (nope, different opponent) and again at the
Fairgrounds.
Woods: “Larry Cooter, I’ve been to the mountain top, and I look down at you." And that’s a shoot, pally.
3 -- CHRIS CAIN vs. AIDEN SCOTT
Cain bailed after eating a shoulder block and got flattened by Scott’s pescado. Back inside, Cain unloaded with strikes. Scott finally
countered one with a backslide. Cain answered with a spinning heel kick for a one count only. Scott took a backdrop over the turnbuckle
to the floor. That was nuts. Scott slipped on a springboard move. James called it springboard headbutt to the knee.
Postmatch: Cain jumped Scott with a back cracker and locked in an inverted cloverleaf until Steve-O and Syks made the save.
Winner: Scott in 3:55. Generally decent with occasional flashes of brilliance from Scott.
Scott promo. He was going to teach Cain a lesson in Portland.
Cain promo. He was climbing to the top and Scott was just another rung in the ladder.
4 -- NWA Mid America Heavyweight Champion JEFF DANIELS & SEVEN (with Dominique) vs. ALI STEVENS & “Playboy� SCOTT
HAYES
The babyface team cranked on Daniels’ arm with repeated interjections by Dominique. Seven reared back and punched Hayes in the
face to take over. Nice. Hayes had pinned Daniels pinned with a sunset flip, but Dominique had ref Mark Owens distracted. Daniels took
a flying crotch bump on the middle turnbuckle. Both men tagged. Stevens cleaned house and tumbled over the top clotheslining Seven.
Dominique did a crossbody onto Daniels and Hayes pinned both of them.
Winners: Hayes & Stevens in 7 minutes when Hayes illegally pinned Daniels and Dominique. Owens interrupted a 10 count on the legal
men to count the illegal pinfall. There were serious ring positioning problems during the house cleaning segment. The bright spot was
Seven.
Hayes promo. Said he would beat Daniels for the belt tonight in Portland and be wearing it next Tuesday at the Fairgrounds.
Daniels promo (with Dominique). He said Hayes wasn’t in his league.
Scott Hayes, you’re like a cold sore, I can’t seem to get rid of you.
Shane Smalls promo. Smalls said he was going to prove to O and all the viewers why he should still be the NWA Mid America Television
Champion. Didn’t say he was going to win though.
Steve-O said Smalls had two more title shots coming up. “You’ve been chasing me for weeks and still haven’t gotten the job
done.�
5 – NWA Mid America TV Championship Match: Champion STEVE-O vs.�Magnum� SHANE SMALLS
Lots of bailing and complaining out of Smalls. There was this great clothesline-leg lariat-dropkick sequence by O where Smalls showed
he can get up and down with the best of them. O telegraphed a backdrop to start the heat. Smalls worked the neck. Spinebuster by O for
the double down. Smalls with a swinging neckbreaker for a near fall. O with the superkick, but Smalls got a foot over the ropes at two.
Furious back and forth pinning combinations with the time winding down. Smalls bailed out with 20 seconds to go. Smalls ate a
superkick and O covered just before the time limit expired.
Winner: None. Steve-O retained the title in a 10 minute time limit draw. They were having a good match until it got sloppy in the final
minutes. Smalls taking a TO with 20 seconds to go was mind boggling.
Closing Thoughts: The thing I will remember about this show is the segment with Gulas under the ring lights at the Fairgrounds Arena.
Interesting historical content and the emotions rang true. I can’t see the battle royal being enough of a drawing card to bill it as a
main event. Almost all of the fans that relate to the Gulas era have moved on, one way or another. Besides which, they used a battle royal
as the gimmick match for the June big show. Christopher vs. Gilbert made sense as a main. At least they did an angle at Lawler 35 in
front of 600 likely ticket buyers…The promos covering multiple future matches tended to lack impact. It’s the promo cut for a
particular match on a particular night that gets to me (the Smalls promo on this show being a prime example…The tapes coming out of
LaVernge are a work in progress. Seeing the talent wrestling in an empty building makes for depressing viewing, especially when the
few fans they have look comatose.…Porter is OK on commentary in an old school kind of way, but this is much better show with the
team of James and Tyler Clemmons…They can do something with Seven. He’s a monster in the making. They booked him in a
handicap squash match (hopefully) at the Fairgrounds.…Charmin Charles hasn’t been on either of the shows since they moved the
tapings to Sundays in LaVergne. He was advertised as managing Bryan Casey at the Fairgrounds show. My, how the mighty have fallenâ
€¦The finish of the Daniels match was house show material. The goofy finish with the illegal pin did nothing for the shaky credibility of this
promotion.
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