Showtime Allstar Wrestling - Episode 62

Courtesy of Larry Goodman:

Showtime Allstar Wrestling
Airing September 20, 2008 on Comcast 74 in Nashville
Taped September 5, 2008 in Millersville, Tn at the SAW Mill

Opening with Arrick Andrews and Tribal Nation backstage. Andrews said one Paul Adams didn’t think of in his gang mentality game plan was Ric Santel’s former partner, “The Livewire.” Up popped Nikki Vaughn, like a blue-haired, bug-eyed trailer park Meth fiend. “Paul Adams, you ain’t seen nuthin’ like me.!”

Cut to Michael St.John and Reno Riggins at ringside. Today: Kid Kash puts up the SAW International Title in a no DQ match against Jerry Lynn, “The Maniac” Marc Anthony takes on Drew Haskins in a match Reno advised Haskins against taking, and the A-Team in full effect (clip of Andrews pinning Young in last week’s 6 man main).

1 – DAVID YOUNG (with Paul Adams) vs. JESSE EMERSON

St. John said Young was incensed after last week. Quick series of armdrags by Emerson. MSJ said Young was a slow starter. The words had barely crossed his lips when Young gave Emerson a hotshot into the top turnbuckle. Young worked Emerson over briefly. Emerson hit a Russian legsweep to start the comeback. Young reversed a whip attempt into the spinebuster for the 1-2-3. Young left Emerson with one of his “problem solver” business cards.

Winner: David Young at 2:10 with the spinebuster. Just what Young needed after last week - a quick, clean win. In their efforts to portray him as a wily veteran, the announce team made Young sound like John McCain – a slow starter, who tends to lose focus and has a lot of mileage on him.

The A-Team (minus Matt Dillinger) was at ringside with Hot Rod Biggs. Young said Andrews had made it personal and he wouldn’t stop until Andrews had been taken out. Ric Santel said he carried Vaughn for 8 years and all his accomplishments came after he dropped the dead weight. Santel said his agenda with the SAW International Championship, and Vaughn had caused a distraction he would eliminate. Hammerjack said the tag belts were coming back to the TVA. Paul Adams summed up an unusually average A-Team promo.

2 – MARC ANTHONY vs. DREW HASKINS

Anthony marched into the ring, dropped his helmet and decimated Haskins. Reno compared Anthony to Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen. After hitting a brainbuster suplex, Anthony looked upward and talked to Ronnie P. Anthony applied the camel clutch. Reno referenced the videos of Anthony talking to Ronnie - “He’s not right in the head.” Anthony shook off a boot the face and took Haskins down with a crossface for the tap out.

Winner: Anthony at 2:40 via submission with the Crippler Crossface. What it needed to be. The crossface fits Anthony’s character.

3 -- CHRIS MICHAELS (with Fallon) vs. CHASE STEVENS

Stevens was hot about whatever Michaels was doing to Fallon, who still had her arm in a sling. Cautious start. Michaels bailed after absorbing a stiff shoulder tackle, and Stevens said something to Fallon. It turned into an all out slugfest with both men blocking punches with their faces. At one point, Stevens set Michaels up for a slap from Fallon. Michaels back-elbowed Stevens and got into a verbal exchange with Fallon. Riggins brought up Stevens’ boxing background. Stevens used a snap suplex and a rolling neck snap for near falls. Michaels shifted the momentum with short cuts. [Commercial break] Both men on their knees trading punches. Up to their feet with Stevens doing all the scoring and Michaels bouncing up and down. Stevens tried for his finisher, but Michaels countered with the Double Shot. Stevens kicked out and Michaels yelled at Fallon. More slugging and a stunner by Stevens, but Michaels rolled a shoulder at 2 and ¾. Riggins said it was almost premature “bellulation” by MSJ. “I hope that’s not a problem at home for you.” Stevens went up top. Michaels shoved the ref into the ropes to crotch Stevens. Michaels hit a killer top rope superplex. MSJ said Stevens’ boots scraped the ceiling of the SAW Mill. Count of five - one-arm cover by Michaels – but Stevens rolled a shoulder just before the three. The commentators focused on Michaels’ massive frustration. Stevens with a downward spiral. Michaels kicked out at 2.9. Riggins told St. John to hold out as long as he could. Michaels kicked Stevens low and nailed him with the superkick, but here came Fallon into the ring to check on Stevens. She shoved Michaels and told him to quit cheating. Michaels grabbed Fallon by the hair, nudged her under the ropes with his boot, and kicked her in the bad arm. Stevens hit a fireman’s carry slam on Michaels. But with ref Jesse Fields tending to Fallon and Stevens wandering around in a daze, Michaels pulled out a set of brass knucks. It was lights out for Stevens. Michaels berated Fallon as she painfully made her way up the ramp.

Winner: Michaels with brass knucks at 13:14. A slugfest with some fine near falls down the stretch. These chances of these two having a bad match are slim. It would have been more effective on TV with a lively crowd, but I could write that almost every week. For storyline purposes, they really could have used more close ups of Fallon. She looks great on TV but needs to expand her range of emotion beyond vulnerability.

MSJ and Riggins introduced a video footage shot earlier in the week when the camera crew from SAW paid visit to the Worthington residence. Rachel Worthington answered the door and said Shawn wasn’t feeling well. “You can come in, but no sudden movements, and we’ve got to be extremely quiet.” The camera followed Rachel’s fine ass upstairs into Shawn’s bedroom. Shultz was in bed with his sleeping mask on. Worthington told him the guys were there to talk about TJ. At the mention of TJ, Shultz grabbed his head in pain. Rachel left to get Shultz some milk. The camera caught a close up of the cartoon characters on Shawn’s pillow cases. Rachel returned with a sippy cup. Shultz couldn’t remember what the guys wanted to talk to him about. Rachel reminded him. Shultz grabbed his head and moaned. Rachel said she would tell them he wasn’t up for it. “I wished I could baby.” Rachel asked Shawn if he needed anything else. Shultz said he wanted to cuddle. “Honey, I’m dressed,” said Rachel. “I want Pooh,” Shultz said. Rachel tucked Shawn in with Pooh and his sippy cup.

Cut to MSJ interviewing Harley about the nonsense with Shultz. Harley said somebody had to do something about it. Commissioner Freddie Morton came out with a letter from Shultz’s doctor excusing him from wrestling for four more weeks. Morton said it was signed “Shawn Shultz’s Doctor.” Morton had seen enough and made a match between Harley and Shultz for next week. Almost. Chrisjen Hayme showed up and vouched for Shultz’ suffering. “I’ve done beat you twice. Me and you, next week, right here.” Hayme must have incredible powers of persuasion, because Morton immediately said OK. Harley said if he had to go through Hayme six more times to get his hands on Shultz, so be it.

4 – No Disqualification Match for the SAW International Championship: KID KASH (C) vs. JERRY LYNN

Lynn was all over Kash, attacking him before he made it into the ring. Mostly brawling on the outside for the first 2 minutes with some nasty back raking going on. Reno said the ref was letting them go in light of the circumstances. Kash slammed Lynn’s head into a chair and strangled him with the mike cord. Inside the ring, it was nothing but a gutter brawl. The announce team brought up ECW. Lynn catapulted Kash’s throat into the bottom rope for a near fall. Kash bit Lynn’s torso. A fan in first row looked completely disgusted by this. [Commercial break] With Lynn in full control, Kash resorted to a low blow ala Flair, then a knee drop to the nuts, and then a hotshot to the groin. Kash applied a leglock around the ropes, but Lynn punched his way out of it. Kash stomped on Lynn’s ankles. Lynn blocked a stomp and rolled away from Kash’s elbow drops. Lynn used a flying double knee to the back and a rabbit lariat. Kash kicked out. Kash wedged a chair between the ropes and tried to whip Kash into it, but Lynn put on the brakes with a baseball slide. Lynn hit a Thesz Press and pounded away. Kash kicked out of an O’Connor Roll sending Lynn’s head into the chair. Kash rolled Lynn up with the tights but Lynn kicked out. Lynn ducked a home run swing with the chair by Kash and hit a reverse DDT on the chair. Kash kicked out at the last split second. Kash rolled out to the floor. Lynn followed with a DDT on the ramp. Lynn got back in the ring to break the count, but ref Kurt Herron continued the count on Kash. Lynn tried get Kash back into the ring, but Kash hugged the ringpost to prevent it.

Herron (MSJ called him Curt Hennig) handed the belt back to Kash, still down the floor. Kash pointed at his brain and gave Lynn the one finger salute.

Winner: Jerry Lynn via countout at 9:26. The first all-action match of this feud. The great thing about it was the SAW title being treated as the ultimate prize. Kash will stoop as low as necessary to keep it, and Lynn is now obsessed with getting it. I didn’t see the count out finish as a problem, per se. It gave Kash another way to escape and keep this wonderful thing going, and not make Lynn look like a dummy. The problem was the ref allowing them to fight outside for a 20 count at the start of the match. With a different finish, who cares? But you can’t have it both ways.

CLOSING THOUGHTS: A satisfying show, despite the non-finish in the title match, and in a way, because of it. They did a nice job of underlying the important story points and making them stick. The things that had staying power were the Shultz vignette and the finish of the title match with Kash hanging onto the ringpost for dear life. Getting to see a program involving Kash and LUnn at this stage of their careers is an absolute treat…For the second straight week, Shawn Shultz and Rachel Worthington were in the most entertaining segment. The man regressing into boy concept is hilarious and Shultz is great in the role ...There wasn’t anything about the content of this show that I strongly disliked, although I will say Morton’s sudden change of heart about the Harley’s opponent made him look like an idiot…Unfortunately, the mind boggling disconnect between the quality of the product and the comatose sound and appearance of their fans continued.