Showtime Allstar Wrestling – Episode 43

Courtesy of Larry Goodman:

Airing May 3, 2008 on ION Network affiliate WNPX 28 in Nashville

They cut right from the opening montage to the entrance of SAW Television Champion Damian Adams.

(1) Damian Adams beat Sigmon with the bicycle kick to retain the SAW Television Title in 3:39. Two guys of almost identical size here. Sigmon controlled the majority of the match with rule breaking mixed with impressive offensive execution. He focused his attack on Damian’s back. Sigmon’s pin attempts were beyond cocky. Riggins said his objective as a matchmaker was parity, like the NFL and college basketball. Sigmon hit a snap slam for two. Damien rallied with a hard Irish whip, but went down clutching at his back. Damien rolled out from under Sigmon’s diving headbutt. Damian unleashed an offensive barrage, nailing Sigmon right in the mush with his finisher.

Up Close and Personal with Stylin’ Shane Eden. Eden said he got interested in being a pro wrestler by watching the USWA with Jerry Lawler and the Fabulous Ones. He emulated Shawn Michaels in wanting to incorporate his dancing ability with wrestling. Eden called winning the North American tag titles with Frenchy Riviera (from the Volz, Riggings and Steven Dunn) was a key point in his career. (Eden held a share of the tag titles on four different occasions between 1997-2001, once with James Storm). Eden disclosed his ongoing battle with alcoholism. He said he was an entertainer, and the opportunity to entertain the kids was motivating him to be sober.

(2) Chrisjen Hayme pinned Shane Eden at 4:15. Pretty even match with lots of near falls, the majority of them being scored by Eden. Riggins brought up Eden’s battle with his demons. Hayme put Eden in a daze with an enzuigiri. Hayme had his mean face on his choked Eden over the ropes. Hayme used a bridging Northern lights suplex for a near fall. Eden came to life after absorbing stiff chops and returned fire. Hayme went for a spinning headscissors, and Eden reversed it into a side slam for a two count. Nice spot. Eden appeared to have his obnoxious opponent in trouble, but Hayme revered and won it with a Blue Thunder Bomb, with Eden get a shoulder up barely after the three count.

(3) Rob Roy McCoy beat Jeff Jamison via submission with the crossface chickenwing at 3:27. McCoy dropkicked Jamison in the back of the head before the bell rang. He gave Jamison a beating outside the ring, and taunted the fans with his greatness. Back inside, McCoy hit a hangman neckbreaker and pulled Jamison up so he could pound his face. McCoy dished out a beating. There was a messed up sequence where McCoy wiffed on a lariat. McCoy took out his frustrations on Jamison’s deformed hand. Riggins was tempted to throw the towel in to protect the kid. Out of the blue, Jamison tried a springboard moonsault. He landed on his feet, and McCoy took him down for the submission. McCoy refused to break the hold, and Riggins had to send security in to pry him off.

McCoy motioned St. John to the interview area. He said the path of destruction would continue until the BOD gave him his title shot. St. John warned McCoy that the BOD was not pleased with his actions, and he needed to chill or he was going to get suspended.

Truth, integrity, dignity, these are things I live by. These are things you people don’t understand. The stars and stripes mean NOTHING. USA means NOTHING. Because I’m going to take that belt back to Scotland, and it’s going to stay there indefinitely.

McCoy attacked Jamison on the ramp. He wrapped his deformed hand inside a chair and stomped on it. McCoy then brought out a second chair and jabbed it into Jamison’s deformity. Jamison was screaming like a limb had been severed. Riggins said there was blood all over the place. St. John said we didn’t need a camera shot of it, but they did and no blood was visible. Riggins said the time was going to come when McCoy was begging for mercy, and he hoped he didn’t get it.

Up Close and Personal with Indian Outlaw. He talked about his partner being put out of action by Paul Adams’ stable, but said he was not alone because he found Boogie Nation. He said he had been wrestling for 9 years. Outlaw acknowledged his debt to Indian forerunners like Wahoo McDaniel, the Youngbloods and Tatanka. Outlaw said it was obvious from his complexion that he was not 100% Native American, but he had 100% of that proud heritage running though his blood.

A video package on the rivalry between A Team and Boogie Nation aired. This was a repeat from two weeks ago. Riggins and St. John were discussing when referee Kurt Herron told Riggins there were problems in the back. St. John called for a commercial break.

Back from the break, Riggins informed St. John that tempers had flared when A Team and Boogie Nation crossed paths, but order had been restored. The refs interrupted again to tell Reno that all hell had broken loose in the back.

Cut to a close up of Indian Outlaw unconscious on the concrete floor.

The camera followed Riggins into the dressing room to find a full-scale brawl in progress between A Team and Boogie Nation. Riggins waded in to the fray along with both refs and Deputy Commissioner Mike Sircy. Freddie Morton came on the scene and ordered the combatants to take it to the ring or else.

(4) A Team (Hammerjack & Matt Dillinger & Rick Santel with Paul Adams) and Boogie Nation (Boogie Woogie Boy & Arrick Andrews & Chris Bomb with Miss Boogie) ended as a double DQ at 4:26. They picked up right where they left off in the dressing room. The babyface side cleared the ring. Santel was the last one to go. He took a high double backdrop and was dragged out by TVA. Riggins said Nation had enlisted the services of Bomb to replace Outlaw. Match settled down to a standard tag. Boogie Nation used a triple dropkick in Dillinger. With Boogie leading the way, Boogie Nation relentlessly beat on A Team, until Paul distracted the ref, allowing Dillinger to crack Boogie across the back with his pool cue. From there, it was six way mayhem. Boogie ended up on the floor with Paul strangling him with his towel. Reno told MSJ to ring the bell because it was out of control.

A crazy brawl ensued to end the show – five minutes of all out crazyness. the focus was Boogie and Dillinger. Boogie took a shot into the post. Dillinger then bashed him with a trash can and choked him with rope. After warning MSJ to stay back, Riggins tried to intervene and got knocked around. Boogie gave Dillinger a hiptoss over the top rope straight to the floor, then slung him into the wall with Dillinger taking the bump at full speed. Miss Boogie chased Paul up the ramp. Dillinger lacerated Andrews with a DDT onto a plastic tub. MSJ called it the wildest action he had experience at SAW. Riggins promised to keep the cameras rolling and show the footage on next week’s TV.

Closing Thoughts: Sigmon vs. Damian was excellent while it lasted. Sigmon is a badass little guy and a good wrestler. The finish looked great. For that matter, all three of the finishing moves on this show were well executed. The personality profile with Eden worked. It came across like the real deal –a guy that has taken some hard licks in life, is battling an addiction, but continues to strive to do what he loves. Kind of strange doing the profile and then beating him clean in the next segment. It made sense for Hayme to win building to a title shot, but why Eden as the opponent? In the process, St. John inadvertently gave away the outcome of next week’s title match. I’ve got to cut MSJ some slack since episodes 42, 43 and 44 were not taped in sequence. It was the best match Hayme has had on SAW TV and a lot of that was Eden. McCoy is heel star in the making - sadistic, cold-blooded and undeniably talented. He got nuclear heat for going after Jamison’s deformity. Some sick stuff there, but if they were going to talk about blood everywhere, there should have been some evidence of it, or they should have stuck with shots of the announcers. The personality profile on Outlaw was boring. He’s just not a good talker. If you’re going to do personality profiles, it helps if you do them on wrestlers that have personalities. At least he made it clear that he’s not a full-blooded Indian. The dressing room brawl worked well, especially the camera following Reno to take the viewer right into the middle of the chaos. They had done a nice of building to an A Team/Boogie Nation meltdown over recent weeks. Main event had great heat and was really just a bridge to a great postmatch brawl. MSJ was not exaggerating when he called it the wildest action he had seen in Millersville. Dillinger was an utter maniac during this segment - throwing his body around with reckless abandon. The amped up intensity reminded me Memphis TV pandemonium from back in the day. The McCoy angle and the backstage/postmatch stuff between Boogie Nation and A Team made for a memorable hour of wrestling TV.