Southern Allstar Wrestling Episode 31

Courtesy of Larry Goodman:

Airdate February 9, 2008 on Comcast 74 in Nashville
Taped on February 1, 2008 at the SAW Arena in Millersville, Tn

Southern All Star Wrestling is now available for internet viewing at The Superstation TV.

Jack Johnson and Reno Riggins (subbing for Michael St. John) were at ringside to open the show. New banners decorating the walls of the Bakery! They hyped the return of former SAW TV Champion, T. J. Harley.

T. J. Harley beat Big Rig Bully in 7:31. Riggins said Harley had been back in Canada training for his comeback. The match opened with a strut-off in which Harley appeared to have a bad case of white man’s disease. Bully hit two bodyslams and broke out the cocky jumping jacks. Harley answered with a trio of body slams. As Bully walked around ringside selling like he had a pole up his ass, Riggins said he better check those hemorrhoids. Bully used some classic worked jabs here, but ate a back elbow for his troubles and then sold a high backdrop like his back was on fire. Harley went for seconds and Bully countered with a double underhook suplex. Bully with a one arm cover, and Harley rolled a shoulder at two. Bully in total control for the remainder of the match and getting more overconfident with each passing moment. Bully talking trash as usual. A leg lariat left Harley face down on the mat. Bully said it was over, but Harley kicked out again. Riggins said Bully was ahead on points. I’ll say. Harley caught Bully with a sunset flip for a close near fall, and Bully cut him off with a running lariat. No hook of the leg and Harley rolled a shoulder at 2 and ½. Impressive enzuigiri from Big Rig and Harley barely kicked out. Bully landed a series of jabs and charged…right into Harley’s swinging atomic drop and it was over. Krull added slow motion replays of all the finishing moves this week.

Johnson interviewed Drew Haskins, the first graduate of the SAW wrestling academy. Haskins said he wrestled and played football at Hendersonville High and was looking forward to his first match in SAW.

As Tribal Nation entered to the cheers of the faithful at the SAW Arena, they cut to a pretaped promo by Law and Order (Jason James and Lawrence Lane). James said they were getting another chance to prove they were material for tag team gold because last week’s match took a detour due to Homicidal Tendencies.

(2) Tribal Nation (Lennox Lightfoot & Indian Outlaw) beat Law and Order (Jason James & Lawrence Lane) in 5:37. Nation did a number on Lane’s knees. James was screaming about his arm, same as last week. They started talking about Tojo Yamamoto, and Johnson mentioned that Riggins was the last wrestler Tojo trained. James nailed Lightfoot with a back elbow and tagged out. L & O did nice double team on Lightfoot. James lured Outlaw into the ring, so L & O could double up behind the ref’s back. Riggins called it a veteran move. Lightfoot ducked Lane’s clothesline and did a sunset flip, but James had the ref distracted. More chicanery. Fans were war whopping it up for the comeback. Double clothesline and both men down. Hot tag to the big man. Outlaw chopped away on L & O. Nation cornered James and hit the Smoke Signal (Russian leg sweep by Outlaw followed by Lightfoot’s top rope elbow) to score the pinfall.

Johnson interviewed Tribal Nation. Outlaw said they wanted a shot at what Homicidal Tendencies valued most, the United States Southern (?) Tag Team Titles. He asked Mike Sircy to make it happen. Sircy said Nation wanted it, the fans wanted it, and so did the Board of Directors. It’s on for next week.

Cut to promos by “Boogie Woogie Boy” Gary Valiant for his match against Kid Kash and Arrick Andrews for his match vs. Rick Santel (the 540 Dragon’s Curse vs. the Rick Kick) TONIGHT! TONIGHT! TONIGHT! when NWA Top Rope comes to the Wilson County Fairgrounds.

Rick Santel made his way to ringside with a decidedly different look. Johnson wanted an explanation for what Santel did to “Boogie Woogie Boy” Gary Valiant last week in the cage.

Eight years I’ve been busting my butt for each and every one of you people. Eight years, it’s been forced. Every town and every state that I’m in, they want me to be something that I’m not. Guess what? I finally found the man that’s going to let me be me.

“Manager of Champions” Paul Adams and Hammerjack entered the picture. Adams announced the addition of Santel to the A Team with Paul as the brains, Hammerjack as the butt kicker and Nore Havoc as team captain. Mike Sircy from the SAW BOD came out and drew Valiant’s name as Havoc’s opponent for this week’s TV Title match. Paul said Havoc had overseas commitments and wasn’t there because he ran into some travel problems in New York. Paul used his towel to wipe the sweat off of Sircy’s bald head. Sircy said the BOD had guaranteed a title match every week, so Santel would have to defend the TV Title for him.

Clips from Riggins’ interview with Doug Gilbert aired. Gilbert said in his day that didn’t have “riders,” so he could say what he wanted to say on his interviews. Gilbert talked about his first match at age 17 against Tojo Yamamoto.

(3) Damian Adams beat Chris Cane in 4:58. Riggins said Damian was “oozing machismo.” He noted it was rare for Adams to have a size advantage. Damian controlled with a side headlock. Cane caught him with a knee to the breadbasket and a senton backsplash. Riggins called it a Maalox moment. One count only. Cane gave Damian a soccer kick to the chest for a two count. Riggins was impressed. Cane continued to work over Damian’s midsection and used a cracker for a near fall. Cane abandoned the ground game for an ill-advised leg drop off the ropes.

Looks like those little tiny feet slipped off the ropes.

Riggins also said he would feel like Shaq if he posted Cane up in the paint. Damian with a nice series of strikes and a backdrop to set up the bicycle kick. But Cane ducked and went for DDT. Adams blocked and threw a clothesline. Cane ducked again and hit a bridging german suplex. Adams kicked out selling bigtime. Adams caught Cane with a small package and rolled around in a circle. Johnson called it the superball. Adam finally got a two count. Cane blasted Adams with forearms, called for the kill shot, and ate the bicycle kick. Awesome looking finish. You can’t take a better bump than the one Cane took.

Next up from an interview Tommy “Wildfire” Rich. He talked about breaking into the business under Eddie Marlin, Jerry Jarrett and Tojo, and the time period when wrestling went big time on Ted Turner’s Superstation.

(4) Rick Santel (with Paul Adams & Hammerjack) beat Boogie Woogie Boy (with Miss Boogie) to retain the SAW TV Title on behalf of Nore Havoc (5:10). Boogie was boogey it up with this old lady in the first row on his way to the ring. It was a little weird. Johnson pinned Santel’s repulsive loss of sanity on Adams. Called him the Jim Jones of SAW. Riggins theorized Santel was jealous of Boogie’s sales on the gimmicks. Seriously. Meanhwhile, Boogie was giving Santel a lesson in chain wrestling. Riggins said they were getting TV in Louisville, Memphis and Knoxville among others, and ran down a list of local towns for house shows. Adams complained a female fan refusing to shut her pie hole. He said it was not a title match. Santel caught Boogie with his head down. Boogie was getting pounded and not fighting back at all. Boogie with a cradle out of nowhere, but Adams distracted the ref so no count. Johnson tried to guess what Adams offered Santel. Great heat for Boogie’s comeback. Boogie went for the Boogie Blaster. Hammerjack snagged the leg while Adams provided the distraction, and Boogie fell prey to Santel’s T-bone suplex.

Hammerjack and Adams attacked and we had Boogie beatdown chapter 27. Andrews hit the ring and was cleaning house on the heels, when he got jumped by a bearded guy wearing a dorag and camouflage shorts, kind of a Moondog vibe minus the gut. Riggins said it was a fan hitting the ring. Obviously not the case, as it was wrestler Matt Dillinger. The faces took a pounding. Boogie and Andrews came back, 2 on 3, with Boogie clearing the ring at the end and raising Andrews’ hand.

Tune in next week, same time, same channel, and you are watching Southern Allstar Wrestling.

Closing Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this show. Adams/Cane was the best 5 minutes of inring I’ve seen from SAW. Riggins was great on color here. Funny while he subtly put both wrestlers over huge. The key storyline element was the follow up on Santel’s turn. After eight years, he finally got sick of pretending to care about the fans, but the straw that broke the camel’s back remains a mystery. Santel was believable as arrogant asshole. The segment setting up the title shot was awkward. It’s been smoke and mirror regarding the SAW TV Title, since the champion, Havoc, hasn’t been available for TV since winning the belt 6 weeks ago. They’ve managed pretty well so far, but they’re going to have to do something. Likewise, they haven’t been able to follow up on the Andrews/Casey angle since Casey hasn’t been there. Production wise, the replays of the finishes was a nice add, but I miss the recap of last week's highlights. The clips of Rich and Gilbert were gold. Look for more of them at a later date. Andrews cut a great promo for Lebanon. It was a strong show for the talking all the way around, except Tribal Nation. Stiff as boards. The poor guys can’t cut a promo to save their lives. Match was OK. Nation got the win they were deprived of last week but L &O got more than a respectable amount of offense. Big Rig was great as usual. With the hype they gave Harley’s return, I was surprised he gave Bully so much. Then again, it was consistent with Bully’s character - a talented buffoon that keeps managing to trip over his own ego. Main event was really basic. Reno was beyond over the top here. Valiant’s selling reminded me of Dusty Rhodes. I guess the idea is he’s showing the effects of taking umpteen beatings. The postmatch was great stuff (if you can overlook the ridiculousness of Reno calling Dillinger a fan hitting the ring.) It had the feeling of bedlam straight out of classic Memphis TV studio wrestling. Just when it looked like just another beatdown on Boogie, we got the babyface comeback, and with all the heat, it was a hell of way to close a wrestling show.