10/11 NWA Main Event Review

Courtesy of Larry Goodman:

NWA Main Event – ION episode 28
Airing October 11, 2008 in Nashville on ION
Taped October 7, 2008 at the Nashville Fairgrounds Sports Arena

Straight to the action with Jason James and Tyler Clemmons on commentary.

1 – SHANK “The Freak” BARZINI (with The Solomon King) vs. “Mean“ MIKE WOODS

News from the Portland show: After taking two piledriver from Chris Cane on TV last week, JP Lightning showed up in Portland to challenge Cane, only to fuck up his neck again and get carried out. Nevertheless, Lightning was in the building challenging Cane to a match.

Call it a credit to him. Call it an indictment of him. Either way, he’s tenacious.

Also in Portland, “Playboy” Scott Hayes sustained a serious injury at the hands of Jeff Daniels. A telephone interview with Hayes was coming up.

Meanwhile, Woods got the upper hand, then shifted his attention unwisely to Solomon King, opening it up for Shank to clip his knee. Shank used a spinning toe hold and a single leg crab, during which he chewed on Woods’ kneepad, prompting James to bring up George “The Animal” Steele. No water in the pool for Shank’s moonsault. Woods sold the knee huge. He whipped Shank in but was too hobbled to follow up. James brought up the knee problem. Big lariat by Woods. Uncle Walt up on the apron and brought in the hard way by Woods. Clothesline on Walt. Shank with a briefcase shot to skull for the 1-2-3.

Winner: Barzini in 7:05 of TV time with Solomon’s briefcase. A fine opener. Stelllar work on the knee by Shank, well sold by Woods. The announce team did an outstanding job of getting the new angles across without totally ignoring the match at hand.

Phone interview wit Hayes along with footage from the Portland showing Daniels torturing Hayes with The Dominator while “that she-devil” Dominique. Hayes said the diagnosis was a damaged labrum, but he didn’t need surgery per the renowned Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham. Hayes said he would be ready for the Fairgrounds show next week.

Promo by Solomon King (selling that aching shoulder) and The Freak. Freak said he was gonna get freaky with Woods next week.

Woods promo – “I’ll tell you one thing, King Solomon. You’re supposed to be wise, and it ain’t wise to mess with “Mean” Mike Woods.”

2 – CHRIS CANE vs. J. P. LIGHTNING

JIP with the opening shot being one of Lightning clubbing Cane’s neck from behind. Cane hooked the ropes to hang Lightning out to dry on a dropkick. It was Déjà vu all over again on Lightning’s neck. Lightning got a comeback, but Cane ducked an enzuirgiri and locked in the STF. An unidentified woman came to ringside pleading with JP to give up. She threw her white top into the ring (she had a tank top on underneath) and ref Jamie Ferrrari called for the bell.

Winner: Cane with the STF in 3:13 when Lightning’s girlfriend threw the towel in. Compelling stuff.

Jame said that was Lightning’s girlfriend, Scarlett. Scarlett jumped into the ring and pounded on Cane’s back. Cane grabbed her by the hair and was threatening to punch her face, until Steve-O and Chris Phoenix made the save. Scarlett was sobbing and stroking the hair of her man. She wouldn’t let the other wrestlers get near him.

Cane promo. He had no problem getting physical with Scarlett, but that was in the past, because he was going to the top in NWA ME.

3 – SNAKE JONES (with Charming Charles & Little Booger) vs. CHRIS PHOENIX

Early on, Phoenix surprised Jones with a sleeper but wasn’t quite able to lock it in. Jones started pounding on Phoenix BEFORE Booger grabbed Phoenix by the leg. Jones employed copious karate thrusts to the throat. Charles amplified the ex-Marine’s troubles by grinding his cane into his trachea. Jones kicked field goals with Phoenix’s ribs. James brought up Al Del Greco. Clemmons said Rob Bironas because Snake didn’t miss. Phoenix looked gassed on the comeback ending with a backdrop. Booger got on the apron. Phoenix popped Booger, who took this lame bump onto Charles, while Snake was sitting up. Snake locked in Snake Eyes (cobra clutch). Phoenix kicked off the turnbuckles (sorta) and landed on top of Snake, who didn’t release the hold and pinned himself. Charles raised Snakes’ hand, but Ferrari awarded the victory to Phoenix. James said now that Snake had lost a match, Charles might have to get a new monster.

Winner: Phoenix via pinfall at 6:12. Crude match here. The finish was not well executed. Neither was Booger’s bump. Gotta love Snake’s 70s style karate thrust though.

Promo segment with Charles, Booger and Snake. Charles was beside himself about the stupid ref and having to deal with a nutcase like Snake, who was bashing himself in the head with a chair. Charles threatened to call Bob Trobich of the NWA. Charles said Phoenix was going down like a titanic next week (to Charles’ hand picked mystery opponent).

4 – Mid America Television Title Rematch: Champion STEVE-O vs. SHANE SMALLS

It was back and forth chain wrestling with Smalls taking several time outs. O The announce team ripped on Smalls gear (mesh velvet lime green trunks with a twist of sour apple), his looks and his lousy social skills. O used the ropes for a backflip counter on the arm wringer. Smalls poked O in the eyes to gain the advantage. Smalls went to work on O’s back with high impact offense. He got a zillion near falls. O kicked out a springboard leg drop, so Smalls went back up top and missed with a moonsault. O on the comeback with atomic drops and a lariat for two. Ref Jamie Ferrari got squashed when Smalls pulled him in the way. Dominque ran down and tossed a chain to Smalls. O ducked and superkicked Smalls for a visual fall. Daniels hit the ring, clocked O with the ring bell and put Smalls on top. Dominique revived Jamie. “Only a mother’s love,” said Clemmons. But O rolled a shoulder just before the three. Smalls hit a somersault spear in one corner, and went for another in the opposite corner. O hopped up on the ropes and got the pin with a sunset flip. James made a big deal out of the mother-son connection between Dominique and Jamie, a topic that carried over to the next match.

Winner: Steve-0 via pinfall at 10:10. Another good match for these two. Quite the triumph for O. They’re strapping a rocked to his ass as top babyface.

Steve-O said Small didn’t succeed tonight and he and Hayes were coming for revenge on Daniels and his partne, Christopher Starr next week.

Smalls said O was lucky and he was the one with all the skill and talent. Smalls said he would hunt O down to get his title back.

Daniels (with Dominique) promo. Daniels gloated about winning the only title that had eluded him during his career. He questioned the audacity of the Atomic Dogg to ask for a rematch because he would outfight him and out wrestle him. “You better be careful what you ask for.”

5 – Mid America Heavyweight Title Match: Champion “The Crippler” JEFF DANIELS (with Dominique) vs. ALI STEVENS

JIP. After last time, Stevens wasn’t tolerating any of Daniels diversionary tactics. Daniels begged. Stevens punched his head. Daniels was on rubber legs. Stevens sent him down with a head butt. Stevens worked Daniels over for a long time with a body scissors, then switched to a bear hug. Daniels thumbed Dogg in the eye. Daniels mauled him. Dominique choked Stevens with a rope while Daniels distracted son Jamie. Stevens came back firing lefts and rights and put Daniels down with an elbow to the top of the head. Dominique up on the apron, so Daniels could grab the title belt. Stevens ducked the belt shot. Daniels tossed the belt to Stevens and went down like he was shot. Jamie saw Stevens with the belt for the DQ.

Winner: Daniels via DQ in 7 minutes of TV time. Nothing special for the wrestling but I like the story - Stevens wasn’t falling for any of Daniels tricks but still got tricked in the end. Again, they worked the match to play to Stevens’ strengths and away from his weakness.

Closing Thoughts: It was rematch week – four of ‘em. To booker Jeff Daniel’s credit, he’s developing storylines up and down the card. While the July/August run was fun, there was too much hotshotting going on. The current booking direction isn’t as wacky, but it feels a hell of a lot more sustainable. …They have something in the Cane/Lightning feud. Surely, Cane isn’t really moving on from it yet. Scarlett was remarkable. Nothing like spontaneous, instinctual emotion to get an angle across. Now if she could just get her pants to stay up…Phoenix is being over pushed at Snake’s expense. It’s difficult to find guys with the size Phoenix has, but he’s way green to be beating Snake, who’s coming of a program for the heavyweight title. Unique monster types have a special appeal to wrestling fans, and they’re killing Snake’s specialness…The phone interview with house show footage was a really nice touch. It’s too bad the crowd at TV doesn’t come across like that…They had the houselights back up, so the TV look better, not good mind you, but better. The crowd looked sad on TV, 50 at best. They’re not yet making optimal use of the second camera (manned by Mike Porter)…The announcing was very strong again this week. Having intelligent people that speak well and are students of pro wrestling is pretty unbeatable combination. They can almost get away without an opening recap segment if the announcers keep doing such a good job of hammering home the angles during the body of the show…I liked this episode a lot. It got me curious to see what happens next.