Championship Wrestling From Florida
Date: April 10, 1982
Location: Sportatorium, Tampa, Florida
Commentator: Gordon Solie

This is one of the major territories I’ve never touched on which is a shame. Florida was easily one of the most important places as everyone went there at some point. It was owned by Eddie Graham who people claim to be one of the most brilliant bookers ever, as well as one of the most ripped off booker ever. Anyway I don’t know much of anything about the angles going on here so let’s get to it.

Florida TV Title: Dory Funk Jr. vs. Sweet Brown Sugar

Joined in progress as was Florida’s custom. I believe Sugar is defending here but he’s in an armbar as we join things. We have three or four minutes remaining in the fifteen minute time limit. Dory has something called the International Title. Under three minutes. Sugar fights up and dropkicks him to the floor. Tommy Young is referee. Was there ANY other NWA referee in the 80s? Funk comes back with those famous forearms of his but gets cross bodied for two. David Von Erich is here and jumps Sugar. Two minutes left. Dory piledrives him for two. A minute to go. Dory hooks the toe hold but the time runs out.

Rating: N/A. I don’t think it’s fair to grade four and a half minutes of a fifteen minute match. David would win the title in two weeks and then lose it to Dory before the year was over. The title would also be retired by the end of the year. Anyway not much here as the time limit draw was pretty clear the whole time.

Gordon is with some chick named Barbara who is a corespondent I guess. We’ll get some video on Dusty Rhodes later.

Apparently later is now as we see Dusty singing with Willie Nelson in concert. Over in Japan, Dusty says even though Dusty hasn’t been in Florida for six months, no one has risen up to fill his shoes. He’s been chasing Ric Flair around the country but he’s coming home.

We hear from a sheriff about a festival for charity that happened recently. Mike Graham beat up a deputy. Another deputy had a sleeper put on him. They raised over $6000. That’s cool if nothing else. There was a parade too with Eddie Graham as the marshal. Eddie gets the key to the city for his efforts.

We keep up the civic stuff with Eddie getting an honorary membership in the Rotary Club and some other award from them. He gets a third award from them. The charity stuff is cool and all but do we need to spend like ten minutes on this and the Dusty stuff?

Now the sheriff gets awards. GET ON WITH IT. The guy that put the sleeper on the deputy gets an award. Oh that’s Magnum TA. I didn’t recognize him for a bit there. Now the co-chairman is here to present an award to Mike Graham. This just keeps going. Isn’t this supposed to be a wrestling show?

Andre Fillipe vs. Kendo Nagasaki

Nagasaki is called the Black Ninja and is managed by JJ Dillon. The Ninja looks like he’s in gray trousers. The announcer calls the jobber Peltier but Solie says Fillipe. I’ll go with the Dean. Nagasaki chops a lot and wins with a big chop.

Dillon says that’s another body on the pile. He’s challenged Mike Graham for a match today but there’s no response from Mike. Graham pops up in the ring in a suit but he’s ready to go in street clothes. JJ gets in with a kendo stick but gets knocked down and beaten with the stick. Graham slaps on a figure four and JJ is in trouble. Nagasaki makes the save but gets beaten down as well and put in a figure four. JJ saves but is sent to the floor, allowing Nagasaki to choke Graham down. Graham bleeds from the mouth until some wrestlers make the save.

Gordon is at the announce desk and gets a call on the Batphone telling him that Graham is being taken to the hospital.

Wahoo McDaniel vs. Rick Harris

This is from Charlotte. Wahoo kills him with the big chop after about a minute shown.

Video on Flair and his tastes for the finer things in life. I think this is on one of Flair’s DVDs actually. Vignettes like these would do wonders for 99% of the roster today.

Dick Murdoch vs. Iron Sheik

Murdoch beats on Sheik with the flag before the match so Murdoch has a very early advantage. This isn’t in the Florida studios and JJ is on commentary. He seems to be a big Sheik supporter. Murdoch pounds him down and JJ (while still on commentary) jumps in and we cut it away.

Brian Blair vs. Bob Russell

Airplane spin, cobra clutch, done. Blair wins if that wasn’t clearn.

Jimmy Garvin is worried about Mike Graham. This goes on for awhile and he doesn’t have much to say.

Here’s a clip (I guess) of a Butch Reed match. It’s done even faster than the Blair match, maybe lasting 20 seconds before the pin off a cross body.

El Gran Apollo/Terry Allen vs. Don Diamond/Cyclone Negro

Don Diamond was the name of Corporal Reyes on the Zorro series produced by Disney in the 50s. That Diamond would be about 60 at this point so I’m going to assume it’s not him. Allen dropkicks him down anyway and they trade wristlocks. Here’s Apollo and never mind as it’s back to Allen. Negro comes in for literally four seconds before tagging back out. Magnum is beaten down for awhile until the hot tag brings in Apollo. He cleans house and we’re almost out of time. Actually we’re out of time and it’s a draw. Wait the bell rang but they fight through the credits and Magnum gets the pin off a cross body. Ok then.

Rating: D. The ending, assuming it actually was one, wasn’t any good. This was one of those long squashes that they had to have to fill in the rest of the show. You could have had a match in there but we needed to have the awards presentations earlier right? Anyway bad match, but Allen would become a huge star soon enough.

Overall Rating: D. I wasn’t impressed here but to be fair it’s 1982 which isn’t exactly the best time in the world for pro wrestling. Anyway, I have a few other shows from this company that are a few years after this so they should be nice to see as a comparison to this. This company gets great reactions so maybe they were just having a bad day.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

USWA Championship Wrestling
Date: March 28, 1991
Location: USWA Television Studios, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentators: Dave Brown, Michael St. John

I haven’t done one of these in about two months now. This is the last episode I have at the moment so it’s hard to say when I’ll get back down to Tennessee. I don’t really remember anything from this company other than Lawler is world champion and Bill Dundee is trying to get his son to love him again. Oh and Steve Austin is here somewhere too, although he’d be in WCW by the summer. Let’s get to it.

Danny Davis is in the opening match but before the match, Eric Embry and Tom Pritchard are here. Pritchard is the new Southern Heavyweight Champion, having won the title about two weeks ago. We get a clip of Jackie Fargo and Jerry Lawler beating some Texas guys in the Mid-South Coliseum but the Texans destroyed the Memphis dudes. Eric is Texas Heavyweight Champion as well and brags about it a lot. Eric and Pritchard run into the ring and beat up Davis and his opponent, the Scorpion.

Back from a break and we talk about the Mid-South show on Monday.

Jackie Fargo tells the Texas guys they’re not going to come in here and run over everyone. Steve Keirn is coming in to help Lawler in the fight.

Sgt. O’Reiley vs. Eddie Gilbert

Eddie jumps him to start and pounds him on the back a lot. A suplex and a DDT both put Sarge down as we’re in pure squash territory here. Here are the Texans again to talk trash about Steve Keirn who has nothing to do with this match. The camera is on them talking at the moment so I have no idea what is going on in the match. The Texans run in for the DQ a few seconds later.

Gilbert gets beaten down for awhile until Steve Keirn makes the save. Keirn says that you have to earn a reputation instead of taking one from someone else. Fargo called him and asked for some help in getting revenge. Keirn owes Fargo everything so he came as soon as he got the call.

Video on Steve Keirn.

We hear about the King’s Hotline which is a real thing.

Here’s Jeff Jarrett to talk about losing the Southern Title to Pritchard in Dallas. We get a clip of the end of the match which saw a ref bump and Tojo Yamamoto, the Texans’ manager, ran in. Jarrett stole a foreign object to hit Pritchard with, but Embry ran in and hit Jarrett with a boot so Pritchard could get the pin and the title.

Back in the arena, Jarrett says he lost the title in Texas. Well yeah we kind of knew that. Apparently he’ll be getting a rematch but Pritchard won’t sign for it. Jarrett will be following Pritchard no matter where he goes until he gets his rematch.

Jeff Jarrett/Billy Joe Travis vs. Keith Roberson/Mickie Jay

Travis starts with the guy that isn’t Roberson. We’ve only been given the name of one of the jobbers and it doesn’t seem like the announcers know the other guy’s name either. Billy works on the arm and it’s off to Jarrett quickly. The announcer says that the guy is named Mickie Jay. That was the name of a WCW referee….and sweet goodness I think it’s the same guy. I really didn’t need to see him in leopard trunks. Off to Roberson who is immediately taken down into an armbar.

Travis comes in and it’s back to the arm. Roberson gets caught in a double backdrop for two and Jeff stays in. Jay comes in again and the big fat tub of goo (Jay) gets his arm cranked on as well. Travis suplexes him a few times and Jarrett gets two off a cross body. They tag in and out very fast here. A Vader Bomb from Travis gets the pin on Jay.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here but it gives us a tag team that could take on the Texans which is the right idea here. This was a squash but that’s what jobbers were for. This was a different era where these kind of matches were perfectly acceptable for the majority of the shows so that’s what we’ve had so far in the first half of this episode.

House show ads. Eddie Marlin, the boss, comes out to say that Keirn will be on the card for tonight. That’s the house show tonight, not this show.

Here’s Jerry Lawler to brag about the 400^th episode of their show. You can hear Vince counting shows from here.

Steve Austin vs. Chris Frazier

Austin is now managed by J.C. Ice. Total squash with Austin hitting what we would call Eye of the Storm and a top rope splash gets the win in about 80 seconds.

Deuce Mason vs. Bill Dundee

Dundee takes him to the mat almost immediately and works on the arm a bit. They go to the mat and it’s off to a spinning toehold. Now it’s a hammerlock followed by a sleeper to end this.

Rating: D. You wouldn’t think that the match I just recapped would have lasted over three and a half minutes would you? It was nothing of note but the idea here was to get Dundee on TV so we could talk about the J.C. Ice feud which is fine. This was a slow and long squash which could have lost a minute or two.

We get a clip of Austin vs. Dundee where J.C. Ice slipped Austin a loaded glove so Austin could get the pin. Back in the arena, Dundee says that Austin can’t beat him on his best day. Next week it’s a loaded glove on a pole match.

T.D. Steele/Curtis Thompson vs. Texas Hangmen

Thompson gets double teamed but comes back with a double clothesline. Thompson looks like a more compact Chris Masters. Steele comes in and I think Psycho beats him down. The Hangmen are Psycho and Killer in case you were wondering. Off to Killer and it’s time for some double teaming. A belly to belly puts Steele down but Killer pulls him up. Curtis breaks up a pin because Steele made him mad I’m guessing. Why else would you keep this going? After about three minutes of beating it’s finally off to Thompson who cleans house. Not that it matters as a side slam/forearm combination called the Texas Whirlwind gets the pin.

Rating: D. This is another match that went on WAY longer than it needed to. I think the idea is that the Hangmen are evil and don’t care about the rules (they were disqualified for shoving the referee so the pin doesn’t count), but you could cover that in about half the time. Nothing to see here and the Hangmen would finally win the titles soon after this.

Billy Joe Travis comes out for the save but gets beaten down too. They hang him with a rope until Jarrett makes the save.

Here are Lawler and Keirn for a chat. Lawler says he has a bad neck now but that’s not the point. He talks about how a lot of the time when you team with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re friends. Lawler references the problems he had a few months ago with the Fabulous Ones (Keirn being half of them) and Cornette. Lawler and Keirn aren’t friends, but they both respect Jackie Fargo. They’ll be able to take care of Embry and Pritchard and run them back to Texas.

Keirn says that they’re not friends but he respects Lawler more than anyone else around here. Keirn is serious about avenging Jackie Fargo and while Pritchard and Embry want to make a name for themselves, they need to find someone else to try it on because they can’t get it done on Lawler and Keirn. Really good promo here but I smell a swerve coming in that match.

The announcers wrap the show up.

Overall Rating: C-. The wrestling here wasn’t great but the promos were on fire tonight. I want to see the main events on Monday at the big show which is the idea behind these TV shows. In the true spirit of a territory, both Austin and Keirn would be gone in a few months to the major shows. Not a great show here but it makes me want to keep watching which is more important than anything else.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Wrestlicious Takedown
Date: March 10, 2010
Location: Wrestlicious Studios, St. Petersburg, Florida
Commentator: Johnny C.

Oh sweet goodness what am I doing to myself? For those of you unfamiliar, go watch the trailer on Youtube right now. It’s basically the spiritual successor to G.L.O.W., which is known for good looking women and completely campy comedy and women that are “wrestlers”. In this case, it was started by a guy that won a Powerball lottery and used his money on this. Jimmy Hart played a big part in this and I think it’s out of business now. This is the second episode. Let’s get to it.

Oh and the girls are mostly all wrestlers, some of which you’ll know. They’re ALL in very stereotypical and overdone gimmicks which I’m sure you’ll catch on to. There are also comedy skits to go along with the wrestling. The word “studios” means warehouse too.

Jimmy Hart pops up and is worried about being the host and stuck with a bimbo or stick in the mud. Leyla Milani, the runner up in one of the Diva Searches, appears and is the co-host. Oh geez there’s a laugh track.

We do the opening video which is most of the girls in character in front of a personalized screen.

Boot Camp Bailey, the trainer, wants to talk about something. She’s a military themed girl with a VERY short skirt. She says attention a lot and says she’s looking for a few good women. Bailey asks who wants to be a trainee and calls a few “fans” into the ring. One of the girls is the floor manager who has to take her headset off before she gets in. Bailey apparently is a model with no wrestling experience. This is getting LOUDLY booed by the way.

We get a clip from last week of a six girl tag with the Country Cousins vs. the Mexican team/Felony, a prison character. I have no idea what the announcer’s name is. Felony tries to escape during the match. Apparently the commentator’s name is Johnny C. and he has no idea what he’s calling. The Mexican team and Felony won with what looked like a Snow Plow.

There’s going to be a battle royal with the final two facing each other for the Wrestlicious Title.

We go to “the farm” (green screen) with Cousin Cassie and Tyler Texas who do a comedy bit called “You Just Might Be A Down Home Wrestler.” I’m sure you get the idea here.

And now, a game show: Are You Smarter Than A Male Wrestler, hosted by Jimmy Hart. Our contestants are Glory (female wrestler Christie Ricci playing a patriot) and Brian Knobbs. The category is American History and the question is what happened in 1776. Knobbs thinks it’s the first beer drinking contest. Glory gets it right (I guess the signing of the Declaration of Independence was all that happened in America that year)…..and that’s it.

We recap the Bailey segment from like 5 minutes ago.

Now three girls are in a bedroom on a bed. Now they go to make drinks but Bailey stops them. Oh ok they’re the trainees. To be continued. Did I mention we’re almost halfway through the show?

Package on Lacey Von Erich which is her on the beach in swimsuits.

Tony the Top (mob character) says that Autumn Frost (an Ice Princess, whatever that is. You may know her as Jennifer Blake who does indy wrestling and is a somewhat big female star in AAA) should be on JV Rich’s (the owner of the company and owner of a big mansion where comedy bits like this one are shot at) arm. He says she should be on a leash, which gets a HUGE reaction from the laugh track.

Paige Webb (Serena from the Straight Edge Society with hair) answers an e-mail from a male admirer. Included in the e-mail is a picture of his pierced genitals I think.

Three girls are arguing over what to call the aforementioned battle royal. Go vote on their website for the NAME OF THE MATCH. This show is cut into three parts on Youtube and we’re about to start part 3 with no matches.

HOKEY SMOKE A WRESTLING MATCH!

Autumn Frost vs. Paige Webb

Frost is from Alaska so we get a snow effect. Webb is a computer geek. Get it? Johnny C. makes a bunch of bad sex jokes and we’re ready to go. Frost jumps her but gets caught in a full nelson. The commentary is nothing but puns. Literally, it’s all puns and the occasional name of a move. Frost hooks a full nelson of her own but Webb arm drags out of it. Webb hooks the armbar as the announcer talks about how Webb’s box is filled every night. With e-mails of course.

A monkey flip puts Frost down and “the ice girl goeth”. Back in and Frost takes over. I can’t handle or give you an accurate description of the amount of the puns being used here. Apparently Webb needs to reboot from a snow boot. Frost beats her down “like a computer virus.” I’m dying listening to how bad this is.

They do a pinfall reversal sequence and Webb gets caught in a chinlock. Webb comes back with some armdrags and sends Frost to the floor for a beating. Back in a top rope cross body gets two for Webb. After a quick run on the floor, Webb tries a monkey flip but Frost falls on her and puts her feet on the ropes for the pin.

Rating: D+. Both girls are pro wrestlers already so the match wasn’t that bad, but the commentary here is going to make or break the match for you. I kid you not, you won’t go ten seconds without a terrible pun, but if you just give up on the show being serious and enjoy it for how HORRIBLE it is, the commentary will grow on you quickly. The wrestling wasn’t half bad.

We get a preview for next week which is a voodoo chick vs. Madison Rayne as a cheerleader.

Overall Rating: B. Now let me explain. This show is TERRIBLE. There’s about four minutes of wrestling (the show is only half an hour including commercials so it’s not a huge stretch), a TON of bad comedy bits that don’t go anywhere and the commentary is nothing but puns.

HOWEVER, this is the kind of show where if you saw more than four seconds of the previews, you knew exactly what you were getting into. This show knows it’s horrible and it doesn’t try to take itself seriously in the slightest. I found it hilarious with how bad it was and if you go into it with that kind of mindset, you’ll have fun with it. Plus the girls look good so that helps.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

USWA Championship Wrestling
Date: March 9, 1991
Location: USWA Television Studios, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentators: Dave Brown, Michael St. John

We had to skip ahead about a month here but it shouldn’t be a big problem. As far as I know there haven’t been any major changes, although at some point before the 15th, Jarrett’s Southern Title was held up after a match with Steve Austin so there’s no champion. Other than that everything seems to be the same. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Night Train Jackson vs. Sgt. O’Reilly

The show is starting a little early so some fans aren’t there yet. Jackson throws him around and dances a bit. He hits something like Old School and no sells a headbutt. See Jackson is black and in wrestling that means he has a hard head. Dropkick and a fisherman’s suplex get the pin. Squash.

The announcers talk about the Open Door Policy, which means if you want a match, talk to the promoter and they’ll try to get you one. That leads us to a video on the Texas Hangmen who are apparently violent. They shout a lot and no one, including the announcers, can understand it.

We talk about last week where Jeff Gaylord surprisingly joined up with JC Ice and we get a clip of Gaylord jumping Superstar Bill Dundee. Gaylord bailed on Downtown Bruno in the process.

Ronnie Leach vs. Jeff Gaylord

Gaylord is a power guy so he picks Leach up in a bearhug position and rams him into two corners. Backbreaker hits and he throws Ronnie to the floor. Apparently Ice has stolen all of Bruno’s talent, which means Bruno is heading to the WWF I believe. A modified powerbomb, the Dehumanizer, kills Leach and eventually a pumphandle slam gets the pin. Squash #2.

Dundee jumps Gaylord before Gaylord can go for an interview. Dundee rams him into the post to get rid of him. He talks about how he’s fighting to get his son Jamie (JC Ice) back. I forgot about that. Dundee says he’ll do whatever it takes to get him back and that includes beating up everyone that Jamie brings in.

Jerry Lawler will be at some hardware stores next week.

House show ads.

We hear about how Terry Funk won’t show up and defend the world title. We get a clip of him winning the title off Lawler in November. Eddie Gilbert tried to interfere and wound up costing Lawler the title. We also hear about the bounties that Funk put out over the last few months.

We finally hear from Funk for the first time in the nearly three months I’ve been watching this show. He’s being forced to come back to face Lawler in a rematch which will be two days after this show. Thinking of Memphis makes him spit and the people are even worse. Lawler is the worst of all of them but isn’t man enough to take the title from Funk. Apparently Jackie Fargo is going to be the referee again and Funk thinks he’s an old pervert. The match should be in Amarillo, Texas where men are men. Funk is only 46 here and he’s as evil as ever. Maybe he’ll stomp Fargo so Fargo’s heart will stop. That could be awesome.

Video on the career of Jerry Lawler. We get clips of him fighting probably 25 legends in a very impressive package. Pretty much every big name from the era (other than Flair, who I’ve seen Lawler face in Memphis when Flair was NWA Champion) is shown with Lawler beating them up, including both Funks, Hogan, Race, Savage, Rude, Hennig, and about twenty others. It’s really cool stuff. We also get a look at his work outside of the ring with kids. We also see clips from the Jerry Lawler Show, which is exactly what it sounds like and was a real talk/variety show that aired in Memphis. The whole thing runs almost nine minutes.

Mid-South show ad, including the Lawler vs. Funk match.

Lawler comes out and talks about the match coming up. It’s taken forever to get here but he’s ready. He’s not really fired up for it but is more calm and cautious. Win, lose or draw it’ll be his last match for awhile to heal from some injuries.

We get highlights from El Gran Pistolero vs. Danny Davis for the Light Heavyweight Title. Are there any matches on this show? The match is thrown out.

Davis says he was expecting a match and got a fight, and that’s not cool. He’ll fight Pistolero anytime.

Curtis Thompson/Brad Collins vs. Eric Embry/Tom Pritchard

Pritchard and Collins get things going. Tom and Eric are Texas guys so they keep explaining how awesome their home state is. It’s off to Embry who gets in some shots and then back to Pritchard. Both heels keep jumping between the apron and commentary. Pritchard tries a slingshot suplex that goes so badly it would make Tully Blanchard shoot himself so he could roll over in his grave. Embry hits a top rope headbutt for the pin. Thompson was never in the match.

The Texans make fun of Lawler and Tennessee.

Southern Heavyweight Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Steve Austin

The title is vacant coming in. Austin takes over quickly and stomps him down into the corner. JC Ice has the referee and Jeff’s small package is missed. Austin hooks a chinlock which only lasts a few seconds. Jeff tries to speed things up but walks into a knee to the stomach. Austin rolls him up in the corner and puts his feet on the ropes for two. A foreign object shot gets the same. Jeff hooks a quick sunset flip and gets the title back.

Rating: D+. Not the worst match ever but it was only a few minutes long and neither guy was all that great yet. This was more about pushing the Monday matches forward because of the post match stuff. Not much to see here and Jeff has the title back that he never really lost in the first place.

Jarrett gets beaten down by Austin and the other Texas guys but Eddie Gilbert makes the save. Jarrett says it ends Monday. Gilbert says bring on the blood.

Overall Rating: C+. This was much more like a go home show rather than a regular show which is an interesting change. The Lawler video is awesome and could easily be a HOF/retirement video all on its own. The matches were short here but it set up Funk vs. Lawler on Monday which is the whole point here. Good stuff but it could have been great with some better wrestling.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

SHIMMER Volume 29
Date: April 10, 2010
Location: Eagles Club, Berwyn, Illinois
Commentators: Dave Prazak, Portia Perez

This is Shimmer, which is supposed to be all caps but that gets annoying quickly so screw it. This is an all women’s wrestling organization and allegedly pretty good. I’ve never seen it or anything like that so I don’t know what to expect. You might recognize some of the names and I’ll do what I can to let you know who is who. The company records a lot of volumes at once so this is one of four taped in two days. I’m not sure what to expect here so let’s get to it.

Kellie Skater vs. Neveah

Kellie is a heel here and I have no clue who these people are. Neveah is rather attractive. There might be 200 people here and you can clearly hear every word shouted by the girls. That’s not saying it’s bad or anything. It’s just in a small venue. Kellie is from “the most awesomest place ever” and is made of pure adamantium (the stuff Wolverine’s skeleton is made of in X-Men). Ok so she’s awesome. Neveah is pronounced Nuh Vay Uh.

Prazak is already getting on my nerves. Slater is something close to a main event wrestler apparently but hasn’t actually won anything on that level. She also might not be sane. Neveah is a tag worker that’s trying out the singles stuff for the first time. Neveah is ok at best but she’s fairly amateurish with some of her stuff. Perez is just saying what’s going on in the ring, making me think she’s a student of Joey Styles.

Neveah only does basic stuff but this is her first singles match I think so I can understand that to a degree. Skater is called the Rate Tank and I have no idea what that means. The move that Cena calls the Throwback ends it for Skater.

Rating: D. Nothing very good at all here as this would likely have been better as a dark match. It wasn’t horrible I guess but this just never got going. It was a glorified squash and never really got anything going at all. I’ve seen far worse though and this was about on the level of a decent Knockouts match.

Annie Social/Melanie Cruisevs. Pretty Witchin

Pretty Witching are Ariel and Nikki Roxx, more famous as Roxxi of TNA fame. Roxx is still very cute. The team with the more famous name are your faces. Crowd is into Nikki so at least she’s popular. Annie appears to be the shorter one which I’m sure I won’t remember later. The referee gets more heat than the heel team which isn’t good I don’t think. Melanie is really tall and tries for a test of strength with a rather short Ariel.

Neither can slam the other and Roxxi comes in to crank it up a bit. Ariel beats the heck out of Annie who apparently is a manager for the most part. And so much for that as Ariel is getting beaten down fairly well here. Melanie beats the tar out of Ariel here which takes up a good while. Roxx gets the hot tag and can’t hurt Melanie due to insane height. The Voodoo Drop, which is called the Barbie Crusher here, gets the pin on Annie.

Rating: C-. Better match here as the wrestling was of a higher quality. Not a great match or anything but still decent enough.

Some chick named Amber Gertner talks to a British chick named Tenille who has a match with Sara Del Ray and she’s excited. Riveting. There was no point to this at all.

Rachel Summerlyn vs. LuFisto

I’ve heard of both of these girls but I don’t know much about them. LuFisto is a hardcore chick I think. She’s all in pink and has a baby doll with her. Ah ok she’s an anime girl or something. Well ok then. This is more of a fight than a match and apparently Rachel wanted LuFisto to train her but she refused for no apparent reason. LuFisto has a bad back so, showing psychology, Rachel goes after it. LuFisto works the arm and throws on a SICK armbar for the tap.

Rating: C. Very short match here but long enough to see something going on. With psychology from both girls I can’t complain much. This wasn’t even four minutes but it worked pretty well I thought. The submission stuff worked and it’s nice to see someone just go after a body part and hit a quick submission. It’s more realistic and I like it better than way at times.

Jamila Craft vs. Mercedes Martinez

Craft has some kind of weird mask thing going on. Martinez is a big deal apparently and is rather popular. Jamila is the youngest chick to graduate from the Shimmer Academy and this is her debut. Craft does some decent stuff here as this is mainly a mat/technical match here. There’s a nice little story going here as Martinez stays about a step ahead of her by just upping the difficulty a bit each time which is a good thing for the whole rookie idea.

Martinez is kind of a tweener here which isn’t how this started. We hit five minutes for the first match in a good while. Fisherman is countered into a rollup for two for the rookie. And then Craft gets her head kicked off and a Fisherman’s Buster ends it. Solid little match for her debut.

Rating: C+. Considering that was one of the girls’ debut, not bad at all. Martinez didn’t look incredibly great but Craft was solid for a rookie. It was an entertaining match with a bit of a story to it as well. I’d give this a worse rating if it wasn’t for the rookie thing, but that’s one of the better debuts for an 18 year old girl in a mask that I’ve ever seen.

We recap something from the last Volume where a chick hit Allison Danger in the head with a belt to steal a win. I’m guessing this is going to come into play in the next match?

Rayna Von Tashvs. Allison Danger

Tash is very attractive and looks a bit like a call girl. Danger was in ROH for awhile and is in a white mask which she’ll take off for the match. Her brother is the more famous wrestler in their family: Steve Corino. Dang I’m enjoying looking at Rayna. She’s the first girl here to be more about her looks than her in ring work but you need a character like that every once in awhile. Heck look at Cody Rhodes on Smackdown.

Danger talks to the crowd a lot which is kind of funny. Portia leaves because she doesn’t like Danger. She claims she has Ninja Turtles to watch on Tivo, making her my new favorite person here. Kellie Slater, who is apparently Australian, is here as her replacement. Danger hates Portia too apparently. Rayna isn’t much in the ring but I’ve seen worse. I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head but whatever.

She dances a lot before every move which is kind of different. Allison is another big deal here too I’m guessing. She’s treated like one if nothing else. This isn’t much of a match but I’m getting a glorified squash feel to it or there’s going to be an interesting finish involving the other chicks. Yeah this is almost all Allison here. Danger does kind of a reverse facebreaker to end it.

Rating: C-. Again this was just a glorified squash but Rayna is a rookie as well so I’d assume this was also a way for her to get some ring time. This came off pretty well again given the circumstances like this. It was decent enough but Danger looked a bit weak at times, although it was minor.

Danger calls out Portia but we get a promo instead. Portia is so clearly reading off a script but in a cool moment Portia slips up behind her while being on the screen at the same time. Cool idea. Portia’s partner, Nicole stops the referee and they cuff her to the ropes. Some faces come out but that doesn’t work either. Social and Cruise from earlier come down and run interference for the champions (Portia and Nicole). Apparently the cuffing didn’t happen. This would set up a last woman standing match next time which Allison won.

Sassy Stephie vs. Madison Eagles

Eagles is champion of the company by the time this is written so what do you expect here? She gets a welcome back chant which makes me think this is her return match. Eagles is 6’1 and Australian. Yeah that’s all I’ve got. Stephie has an indyish name if I’ve ever heard one. For MMA fans here, Eagles has trained with GSP. That’s kind of cool. Stephie is normally a tag wrestler.

This is a rather sloppy match but I think it’s hard to have a match with such a tall person like Eagles. Madison no sells some stuff and Hulks Up, getting a knee shot for two. Stephie fights back for a bit but walks into a Death Valley Driver into the knee which is called Hellbound. Cool name.

Rating: D+. Probably the weakest of the night so far, but I think this was designed to set up Madison winning the title soon afterwards. The main thing here is that Madison looked a bit weak and only hit a few moves here and there as instead of dominating she got beaten down for a good while before hitting her finisher to end it. That’s not saying it was one big move, but it didn’t work like they wanted to I don’t think.

Sarah Stock is here, more commonly known as Sarita. This is a big return apparently and she wants MsChif, who she’s already beaten. Stock gets a title shot somewhere apparently.

Cat Power vs. Jessie McKay

Cat is, amazingly enough, dressed like Catwoman. Jessie looks like one of the Bellas, but I can’t remember which one. Is there a women’s wrestling farm in Australia? She’s like the fourth chick from there. McKay is rather attractive. Portia is back on commentary. Cat is hot in a different kind of way. Jesse throws a ball of yarn and almost gets it to work. That was uh….short thankfully.

They botch a leapfrog which I think is because Jesse jumped early but I’m not sure. Jesse is very cute but not very good. Power isn’t much better than that though. Jesse gets stuck in the Tree of Woe which is always painful looking, which is the idea so it’s a success. Sunset flip gets two. Who it got two for means little here so I’ll let you guess. Jesse makes a comeback and something resembling a Thesz Press gets two.

Power takes over and works the knee as this is getting more fast paced. And it’s Figure Four time. There’s something awesome about seeing that move all over the place. It just looks awesome and painful every time you see it. Yakuza kick gets two and a really bad looking spinebuster kind of move wins it for McKay.

Rating: D. This never was very good. Both of them felt very messy and kind of all over the place. The girls here came off as pretty unready and it just never worked at all. Jesse however is very cute and in a good way. She’s not a serious character but she’s one of the kind of girls that isn’t supposed to be.

Tenille vs. Sara Del Ray

Tenille is reminiscent of Kelly Kelly and Del Ray is a legend here and more or less a killer. Tenille is ANOTHER Australian. Not a bad thing but just kind of weird. Tenille was trained in CALGARY…..wait for it….wait for it….wait for ALBERTA CANADA! Del Ray is pure heel here and looks ticked off about being here, but in a good way. Tenille is the partner of Jesse in the last match, which fits really well.

This is all Del Ray as she’s clearly just toying with her. Sara kicks her head off as we hit five minutes. Shimmer does the counting of how long we’re at in the match. I’m not sure if I’m a fan of that or not. Sara gets this painful choke on where she crosses Tenille’s arms, pulling them back and bends Tenille over her knees. Painful but it doesn’t work.

In something I like, Tenille just starts throwing punches. Sara is in trouble and takes a Christian reverse DDT which is a cool move. Del Ray misses a kick and hurts her knee. Tenille goes up and nearly falls off, getting a dropkick for two. Weird looking leg lock where Tenille is in a Matrix move, making me wonder why Sara doesn’t hit her in the stomach but whatever. And then the Royal Butterfly, a delayed butterfly suplex, ends it.

Rating: C+. Better than I expected here as instead of just a token comeback Tenille got in some solid offense there which I definitely didn’t expect. It’s good to see what appears to be a jobber get close but just fall short, as she looked like she was almost there. Not bad at all and a nice surprise.

After a lot of replays, Madison Eagles says she could win the Shimmer Title.

Misiak iOhata vs. Daizee Haze

Haze is more or less a legend in Shimmer and I have no idea who Ohata is. The legend is a hippie. Ok then. Ohata gets streamers thrown at her, which is some kind of tradition I believe. Nice backflip into a Boston Crab by Haze. This is almost all mat based submission stuff and is bordering on an MMA style fight. I’m still not sure if I like Portia or not. Her voice is grating at first but it grows on you. She’s also a heel so it works out well in the end somehow.

This is a very different kind of match and I’m liking it so far. Haze gets two on a cradle and is TICKED that it didn’t work. She gets all aggressive here which is different for her. They do about five standing switches but Ohata comes out with the German for two. Ohata gets all fired up and Portia thinks she’s going up top. Gee you think? Was it the climbing the ropes that gave it away?

They crank it up again and there’s a Heart Punch, although wouldn’t something block that? It doesn’t matter anyway as Ohata gets a fast rollup for the pin. Daizee goes nuts afterwards and beats up Ohata, turning heel. Her student from earlier, Craft, comes out but she and Ohata both get beaten up.

Rating: B. Very fun and fast paced match here which wasn’t like anything you would see on this show. This was a good match and based more on striking and leverage, which isn’t something you see that often. I really liked this one although it took about two hours to get here, which isn’t a very good sign.

Tomoka Nakagawa vs. Ayumi Kurihara

I know nothing about these girls other than they are Japanese and female. Well my biggest criticism is a lack of puro so here you go. Well kind of at least. This has a 45 minute time limit and considering we have this and one other match to go with over 45 minutes to go in the show, I’d bet on a long one here. Ayumi is in red and Tomoka is in green. Yeah I likely won’t remember that.

The announcers talk about how they’re bringing Joshi here which is interesting if nothing else. These are both very small girls so I’d expect a fast paced match. Tomoka is definitely the heel here as she is being far more aggressive and even bites the hands of Ayumi. Ayumi goes to the legs which makes sense as both are speed girls. Nakagawa grabs the hair and twists it around multiple times. FREAKING OW WOMAN.

A lot of back work by the heel chick follows. Ayumi makes a comeback and works the right arm, which still looks weird. SICK sounding enziguri and Nakagawa takes over again. Fisherman’s suplex, which is Tomoka’s finisher gets two of course. I often wonder what the point of a finisher is if it hardly ever finishes anyone but whatever.

They slug it out and Ayumi gets a Codebreaker. I’m glad they call the moves the more famous names. It doesn’t matter who came up with it or who named it whatever. It’s more famous as the Codebreaker and more people are going to know it as that. More LOUD kicks to the head and we switch control again. We slug it out again and a rollup gets two for Ayumi. They crank it up again and Ayumi gets an exploder suplex out of nowhere for the pin. Nice ending I think.

Rating: B. This should likely be a bit lower but it’s slightly better than a B- to me. I liked the back and forth aspect of this match a lot as both girls were fairly evenly matched. This was also a great example of how to get the crowd against you with some very basic stuff like just being a witch. Nakagawa did just that and came off like a heel in this, which is what made her losing that much better. Nice fast paced match that went back and forth.

We recap the Canadian Ninjas winning the tag belts at Volume 26 where they beat Ashley Lane and Neveah.

Tag Titles: Canadian Ninjas vs. Cheerleader Melissa/Mschif

Mschif is the Shimmer Champion and Melissa is more famous as Raisha Saed and Alissa Flash in TNA. The Canadian Ninjas are Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews. Cool team name if nothing else. This is a dream tag match I guess as it’s two singles wrestlers against the tag champions. Simple but effective and works most of the time. Mschif is cute in a weird way. According to Wiki she’s also a geneticist. Ok that’s just awesome.

The Ninjas say they won’t wrestle until everyone is quiet. Sounds like school. That doesn’t happen and MsChif vs. Nicole starts us off. Nicole, a ninja, gets followed around by Mschif in a funny spot. Both tag out and I’m thinking Portia is the better of the ninjas. Melissa is another legend here so the dynamic is certainly there. Perez has missed back to back shows with an alleged case of swine flu. Well at least they’re thinking for the angles.

Cheating is fun and works for Portia to take over. Naturally as soon as I type that Melissa is controlling again. Nicole shouts GO AFTER HER KNEE so Melissa steals the advice. Nicely done there too. On the floor Melissa picks up Portia and swings her into Nicole to ram her into the barrier in a cool looking sequence. This has been mostly dominance by the challengers so far.

And look: cheating works again. Melissa has been in there for a very long time. There’s the tag finally and Mschif….well I guess you could say she’s cleaning something. It’s certainly not a house. Despite being champion, Mschif is having some issues here. Portia stomps on her face and shouts to the crowd “do I suck now???” “YES!” That was comical. We hit the fifteen minute mark and everyone is down.

Double hot tags and we’re getting close to the ending methinks. Quick tag to MsChif which might have been stupid and there goes the referee. I think I know where this is going. Never mind as a superkick into a German suplex pins the Shimmer Champion and the Ninjas retain. Post match beatdown ensues and Allison Danger runs out for the save to end the show.

Rating: B-. Decent tag here although it was kind of lacking something. The champions retaining clean is always a good thing as it lets them look dominant and legit. This was pretty good I think but at the same time the challengers came off as being a bit too weak, which for a dream team isn’t the best idea. This was good for a main event though and felt like a big match.

Overall Rating: B-. This is a good show but it’s not for everyone. The thing is that just about any show this company puts on is going to have the same justifications and reasoning as any other for the most part. If you’re a fan of women’s wrestling and hate the Divas and Knockouts, this is for you.

The women here are legitimately respected and only one is based around sex. This is women’s wrestling, not women wrestling if that makes sense. The girls are legit athletes and clearly know what they’re doing. It’s a very nice change of pace from the mainstream stuff that is just awful for the most part.

That being said, just like WWE or TNA there are some on here that aren’t very good at all but there are some that are definitely worth checking out. If you’re a fan of this kind of wrestling, check out any if not all of the volumes. The only real criticism I have is the length.

It’s two hours and fifty minutes and some of the stuff just comes off as pointless filler. If they shaved off about thirty to forty minutes and of course dropped the price to match the loss of action, this would be ranked higher. I see why they would do it this way though and it’s certainly good stuff for the most part. Recommended, if nothing else as proof that there is good women’s wrestling out there.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
Date: February 15, 1986
Location: WPCQ Studios, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Bob Caudle, Johnny Weaver

This is another territory that I’ve touched on before and we’ll be taking another look at it here now. I only have one episode at the moment but if this goes well I’ll see if I can find some more. This isn’t the main WCW show but rather a territory still, although I’d bet pretty strongly that you’ll see a lot of the same people. Let’s get to it.

I’m a little sketchy on the time period because this show should be called World Championship Wrestling. This doesn’t look like the Atlanta studios though. The opening sequence says Mid-Atlantic too.

Upon further investigation (and by that I mean I did the World Championship Wrestling show from this date already), this is the B show and would be the forerunner to WCW Pro. I think I’ve got this now.

Caudle says we have new world tag champions but with him are the former champions, the Rock N Roll Express. They say they’re coming for Cornette and their titles.

Manny Fernandez vs. Mike Semani

No idea if I spelled that last name right. Manny takes him down immediately and does kind of a reverse leapfrog out of the corner and the Flying Burrito (that’s the real name. It’s a flying forearm) gets the pin.

Ron Bass says he thinks he’s stronger than Barbarian. If he wins whatever challenge that follows, he’ll get $10,000.

Arn Anderson, the TV Champion, rants about how Dusty Rhodes has apparently been stealing money from him.

Rock N Roll Express vs. ???/???

Two unnamed jobbers here. Robert starts with the one in green and after some armdrags it’s time for Ricky. Double dropkick to the second one and we’re done in 30 seconds. Replay shows that Robert’s literally missed by 10 inches.

We get a clip of Nikita saving Ivan Koloff from getting pinned by Magnum’s belly to belly. Baron Von Raschke came in for a 3-1 beatdown. Dusty tried to make the save but got beaten down as well. Baby Doll, Dusty’s chick, tried to help also but it only got Dusty beaten down even worse until the Road Warriors and Rock N Roll made the save.

Black Bart vs. Ron Rossi

Bart is a big evil cowboy and he wins with a middle rope double legdrop in about 20 seconds. This would be the case a lot.

Midnight Express vs. Rocky King/Ben Alexander

This would be Condrey and Eaton. The Rock N Roll Express comes out to watch and the place erupts. The jobbers are Rocky King and Ben Alexander. Not that it matters but I try to be informative. Top rope splash by Eaton, 45 seconds. That’s a long match for this show.

Buy the Starrcade 1985 video for just $40!

House show ads. Anderson isn’t worried about defending the title in a cage against Dusty.

Cornette says that the Midnights are ready for Rhodes and Magnum in South Carolina.

Dusty says he and Magnum want to take out the Russians.

Magnum says pretty much the same thing.

Nelson Royal/Sam Houston vs. Jim Jeffers/Tony Zane

Everything breaks down to start and we finally get it does to Houston and Zane. Houston is Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion. Off to Royal who puts a knee in Zane’s ribs and it’s off to Jeffers. Royal dropkicks him down and it’s off to Houston for some abuse. Royal takes him down with a headlock takeover and Houston hits an atomic drop. This is going a lot longer than I thought it would. Royal uses a spinning toe hold to get the submission.

Rating: D. This was long and not that good. When I say long I mean about four minutes but for this show that’s a marathon. This could have been accomplished in about 45 seconds but I guess they had to fill in the time somehow. I don’t remember much about Royal but Houston would go to WWF soon and wouldn’t mean anything.

The Midnights say they’re awesome and any team can come after them that wants to.

Paul Jones and Barbarian say they’re sick of Jones being called a weasel. Bass’ challenge is accepted.

Ron Bass vs. George South

Bass throws him around and easily breaks any hold that South tries. Claw ends this quick.

More house show ads. Baby Doll says Arn has no chance against Dusty in a Texas Death Match. For the South Carolina show, the Midnights need to be ready for America’s Team.

Baby Doll is in the arena now and says Dusty is on a movie set in Arizona with Willie Nelson.

TV Title: Arn Anderson vs. Italian Stallion

The fans chant for Dusty which gets on Arn’s nerves. A quick rollup gets two for Stallion and he grabs an armbar. Arn finally wakes up and pounds on his back before sending Stallion to the floor. Now Arn hooks the arm as is his custom. The fans keep chanting Dusty as Arn stays on the arm. Arn literally works on it with basically the same hold for five minutes. He wraps it around the post a few times and Stallion makes his comeback. He charges into a hot shot and the gordbuster ends this.

Rating: D-. This is a good example of a match that is long but not good. The match runs almost ten minutes but like I said, almost seven or eight of that is a boring arm hold. When it doesn’t even play into the finish, that doesn’t make things interesting. It makes them long and uninteresting, which isn’t good. Really boring match.

Houston, Royal and Fernandez say they’ve got Magnum’s back against the Russians.

Overall Rating: D. I wasn’t that interested in this. You can tell that it’s the B show here as there’s not much of interest going on here. The main focus is on the two tag team feuds and Flair is nowhere in sight. It’s not the worst show I’ve ever seen but there’s nothing of note going on here. I might take a look at one more episode of this but if it’s not any better I won’t be doing more than that.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fanvsfannetwork/2013/02/07/mouth-of-the-south-shore-radio-show

The whole show runs about an hour and a half.  I show up roughly half an hour in and there’s about an hour chat between myself and the host, mainly about 1998 Raw.  There’s an echo when I talk but it comes and goes.  Check it out.

AWE Night of the Legends
Date: October 15, 2011
Location: August Expoland, Fishersville, Virginia
Commentators: Chris Cruise, Dutch Mantell, Larry Zbyszko

This is a show that I’ve heard a lot of pretty bad things about for awhile now so you know I’m all over this one. It’s your typical “get some old guys together and have a show for a quick payday” deal with a main event of Ricky Morton vs. Kevin Nash. While that may seem random, they’ve had some legitimate heat between each other over some shoot interview comments. At least these guys are trying. Let’s get to it.

AWE stands for Awesome Wrestling Entertainment. You know we’re in for some good times tonight.

We open with a video talking about how tonight is the night the legends come home again. What legends live in Fishersville, Virginia?

The arena looks kind of like an old TNA arena but a bit darker. That’s not bad and WAY better than you get on some indy shows.

We’re told that AWE is AMERICAN. This is to prevent confusion with the Bolivian AWE.

The announcers talk about the show. Dutch Mantell is on commentary, just like at Heroes of Wrestling. I’m starting to have flashbacks.

Terry Funk vs. Tommy Dreamer

No DQ here because what else would it be? Dreamer is of course wearing an AWE shirt because if you want something advertised, call Tommy Dreamer. Funk immediately asks for a mic and says he always gets a physical before he gets in the ring. He yells at the fans but says he’s not supposed to be in a wrestler. Funk says he’s getting in the ring for the fans and Tommy Dreamer because Dreamer loves hardcore. Terry talks about getting older and meaner before blasting Dreamer in the face with the mic.

We head to the floor with Dreamer in trouble and getting a drink thrown into his face. Funk gets thrown into what looks like a school desk before Dreamer is thrown into a thick table. Terry starts throwing plastic chairs at Tommy and crotches him on the steel barricade. Back in and Funk fires off some headbutts including some on all fours. We head to the floor all over again with Dreamer being sent into the barricade again.

Tommy steals a drink and spits it in Terry’s face before heading back inside with a pair of chairs. They chop it out a bit and Dreamer is taken down onto a chair via a drop toehold. Funk goes after Tommy’s knee with a chair and puts on the Spinning Toe Hold. Dreamer hits him in the head with a chair, hits him in the ribs again, and rolls him up with a small package for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: D. I do not like matches like this one. Terry Funk may think that he’s ready to be in the ring but he was 67 years old here and did not need to be out there in a wrestling ring. On top of that, the match itself was over out of nowhere (not that I’m complaining from one standpoint) as that small package hit in a flash. I’m guessing there was an injury in there, or perhaps they realized that a 67 year old man doesn’t need to be taking chair shots.

Funk takes out the referee because that’s what he does.

We get highlights of the match because twelve minutes of this isn’t enough yet.

Jamin Olivencia of OVW says that he’s ready to beat Sonjay Dutt again. When was the first match? In about forty seconds, he says Jamin Olivencia about 10 times. The Rock he is not.

Bill Apter, a famous publisher of the top wrestling magazines of the 80s, asks Sonjay Dutt about the upcoming match. Dutt doesn’t have much to say but it’s cool to see Apter.

Jamin Olivencia vs. Sonjay Dutt

Apparently these two are at least semi-regulars in AWE. They stare at each other a lot and Jamin shouts his name again. We immediately start talking about the main event as arm holds are traded. Jamin shouts for the third time and it’s a standoff. He starts to do it for the fifth but Sonjay grabs a headlock, making him the most popular act on the show so far. Really basic stuff so far until Sonjay nips up to slap Jamin in the face.

Things start speeding up a bit with Sonjay hitting a headscissors to send Jamin to the outside. Back in and Dutt snaps off a forearm to the head but Sonjay fires off even more shots to the face. What appeared to be a standing Lionsault is broken up and Jamin hits a running spinning splash for two. Off to a chinlock by Jamin for a bit until Sonjay fights out and sends him out to the floor. A BIG dive takes Jamin down and gets two back inside.

Olivencia hits a spinning clothesline for two but Dutt comes back with a running boot to the face and a springboard splash for two. Jamin comes back with a belly to back suplex to put both guys down. Sonjay fires off more kicks to stagger Jamin but gets hit by a jumping knee to the face. Olivencia backdrops him down but gets superkicked down as well. Sonjay wins a forearm slugout and we get the sunset flip/heel grabs the rope/referee kicks his arms free spot for two.

The referee gets bumped and Jamin hits a low blow on Sonjay, followed by the O Drop for the pin. What is the O Drop you ask? It appears to be a jumping DDT, but since the camera cut back to the referee with Jamin in mid jump, it might have been a carnival act similar to juggling oranges as 5000lbs of zucchini falls on Dutt for the pin.

Rating: C+. Until the ending here, this was getting pretty good. I’ve heard people say this show is at the level of Heroes of Wrestling or even worse which now scares me even more. Heroes had nothing of this level of speed or interest, so how bad can the rest of this show be? Anyway, these two looked good out there although Olivencia is pretty bland.

We get more highlights to eat up some time which I’m guessing is going to be a regular thing.

We get a clip from the contract signing for Morton vs. Nash. Nash signs with no issues and Morton talks about why he hates Kevin Nash. I kid you not, this is the explanation he gives: “Just go on the internet and type in ‘Ricky Morton hates Kevin Nash’ and you’ll find out what it’s all about.

Some heel manager (I think) named Rick Garrison joins commentary.

C.W. Anderson is ready for Perry Saturn.

Saturn cuts a goofy promo before getting even goofier.

Perry Saturn vs. C.W. Anderson

This is Saturn’s return match after being a homeless drug addict who people thought was dead for years. Saturn now has a tattoo on his face ala Mike Tyson. He also has a beer gut and no mustache now which is a weird look for him. Feeling out process to start with Saturn shoving Anderson into the corner. This appears to be the goofy Saturn again which isn’t really that fun to watch.

C.W. bails to the floor almost immediately and hits Saturn in the head with a chair as Saturn tries a suicide dive. Back in and Perry is busted open just a bit. Perry’s arm is sent into the buckle and we get our first psychology of the match. Off to an armbar as the match stays slow. A clothesline gets a very slow two count for Anderson and he throws Saturn to the floor for fun.

Back in and it’s back to the armbar as the announcers bicker about some nonsense. Anderson charges into a boot in the corner and Saturn takes him down with a bulldog. Back up and Saturn charges into a superkick for two but he comes back with a fast sunset flip for a very slow three count to win his return match.

Rating: D+. Considering this was his first match back in nine years, this was pretty good stuff. The problem here is mainly with Anderson. I’ve never gotten the appeal of this guy but he keeps getting work because of a few months he spent working with ECW near the end. Wrestling is funny that way.

Mohammed Akbar (OVW guy I think) talks about how he’s here fighting for Persian culture against Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Duggan says he isn’t your usual old tough guy.

Mohammed Akbar vs. Jim Duggan

Akbar cuts a very generic heel promo about how rich he is which makes him better than us. Duggan finally cuts him off and it’s time to fight. We head to the ring and Jim slugs Akbar to the floor. It’s very clear here that Akbar is in WAY over his head here. A hiptoss puts Akbar down and we’re well into the usual Duggan formula here. Mohammed gets in a shot and hits the chinlock for a bit. After a minute long “bit”, Duggan fights up and hits the Three Point Clothesline for the easy pin. It’s as abrupt as it sounds.

Rating: D-. This was every Duggan match you’ve ever seen that fits the form of a Duggan match. Akbar is a guy from OVW and not a very good one at that. Duggan as the American patriot is about as basic gimmick as you could ask for and it will likely be kicking around some indy company for years to come.

Duggan yells at a whining Akbar post match.

Alex Silva, who I think was on Impact once, says that he’ll walk the walk against Finlay.

Finlay talks about experience and all that jazz.

Alex Silva vs. Fit Finlay

Silva has Tammy Lynn Sytch, aka Sunny, with him for no apparent reason. She has since been arrested six times in like six months so take this for what you will. Finlay shoves him down to start and knocks Silva to the floor with a forearm to the face. Back in and Finlay takes it to the mat with a headlock. Naturally the announcers talk about the main event in case someone has bought the show but doesn’t want to see the main event I guess.

Silva bails again and it’s back to a leg lock this time. We hit the headlock again as the match starts to drag already. Silva counters into a headscissors for about two minutes until Finlay fights up again. There’s an armdrag to put Silva down and Finlay fires off some knees to the back. A kind of Russian legsweep takes Silva down as we’re somehow over ten minutes into this match.

Finlay is sent into the corner where he tries to jump to the middle rope, only to fall down clutching his knee. We now basically stop all contact between the guys in the ring although Sunny does rake Finlay’s eyes a few times. Silva covers for two but then backs up again. Finlay drops to the floor and screams a lot but the referee won’t stop the match. We’re at four minutes now with no significant contact. Silva calls Finlay a coward so Fit charges back in and gets slugged down for a bit. Alex works on the knee with a DDT and stomps away a bit.

They head to the floor with Silva chopping away against the barricade and kicking at the knee a bit more. Back in and we hit another leg lock followed by a heel hook and an ankle lock. Even with the knee injury this is still very dull stuff. Finlay comes back with some chops but Silva sends him to the floor. Silva gets caught in the ring apron and Finlay pounds away before we go back inside. Finlay beats him up even more and manages a Regal Roll for two. Silva goes up but Finlay catches him in the Celtic Cross (think White Noise) but Tammy trips him. The distraction lets Silva hit Finlay low for the pin.

Rating: D. This was supposed to get Silva over, right? If that’s the case, this company has a very wrong idea about what it means to put someone over. This made him look like he couldn’t beat an old man without a freak injury, Sunny and a low blow. Why does that make me want to see Silva again? The match would have been boring with or without the injury so you can’t blame that either. Just a boring match.

Silva brags from the locker room.

Finlay says Silva better be out of the territory soon.

Short Sleeve Sampson vs. Abo Shongo

Now we get midgets. Oh joy. Sampson does a kind of rap but it’s absolutely awful and winds up with an “I say Short Sleeve, you say Sampson” chant. Shongo isn’t a midget and stands about 5’7, making this match even worse. The tale of the tape lists Shongo from Parts Unknown but Cruise says he’s from Cameroon. That’s the kind of show we’re dealing with here.

Sampson knocks him to the floor and tries a dive, only to stop when Shongo isn’t ready. As Abo comes back in, Short Sleeve crotches him and hits a low dropkick for two. Shongo clotheslines him right back down as this is already going nowhere. Cruise: “How do you pin a midget?” Dutch: “You lay him on the mat and hold his shoulders down for three.” Shongo hooks a cravate as this is going nowhere.

It’s off to a dragon sleeper for a few minutes until Sampson fights up and hits a dropkick. There’s an airplane spin by the midget and a low bulldog for no cover. There’s the “Inch Worm”….but Shongo rolls to the floor before it can hit. Shongo tries to throw some powder but it goes back in his own (painted white) face. Sampson finally finishes with a top rope splash.

Rating: D. It was stupid, it wasn’t interesting, it wasn’t a good match. Let’s get away from this so we can get on to the main event with people we might have heard of outside of Hulk Hogan’s Micro Championship Wrestling. Yeah you might remember Sampson from that so terrible it was great show.

We get another clip of the Nash/Morton contract signing with Nash hitting Morton with a chair. Apparently Nash’s partner was going to be someone named Marvin Ward but the Rock N Roll Express beat him up. This brought out the Midnight Express to beat up Ward as well. Diamond Dallas Page came out for the real save. This of course does not mean that Page is the mystery partner. Neither does Page being on the poster of the PPV along with Nash and the Express.

The RNRE, looking to be about 9000 years old each, say they’ll beat up Nash and his partner.

Nash says he doesn’t know why Morton hates him and says he doesn’t have anything to talk about. This goes on for awhile with mentions of Old Yeller. Ok then.

Rock and Roll Express vs. Kevin Nash/Diamond Dallas Page

Yeah to the shock of no one it’s Page. He’s in a t-shirt and jeans but at least he’s a big name to have in there. No mention is made of Page and Nash being former world tag team champions here. We start with Page and Gibson as Larry says Nash and Page never tagged together. Eh no one remembers 2001 WCW anyway.

Off to Nash before much happens but here’s Marvin Ward. Apparently he isn’t a wrestler but rather the AWE boss. This is now a one on one match so Gibson and Page are thrown out. Uh…..ok then? Oh and it’s now No DQ. So can’t Page and Gibson stay now? One more thing: Ronnie Garvin is guest referee, somehow looking younger than he did when he was world champion.

Nash pounds on Ricky to start and uses all of his power stuff. There goes the buckle pad and Morton takes Snake Eyes to bust him open. It hits again and Ricky is busted open. Back in and Nash gets two before choking away a bit. Morton slugs away again and pounds Nash down to one knee as this is starting to get decent. Nash comes back with a chokeslam but grabs a mic instead.

He asks what Morton’s problem is so Ricky goes into a rant about how this business is his life. Guys like Ronnie Garvin raised him in this business. Morton talks about how Nash was a jerk who was in it only for the money. Nash says if that’s Morton’s problem, then they don’t have a problem. They shake hands….and there’s a Jackknife to Ricky. Kevin grabs the mic and says of course it’s all about the money. “Why else do you go to work?” He doesn’t care about the fans as long as they keep buying his dolls and t-shirts. Nash isn’t one of the people suffering from the economic downturn…and he walks out for the countout.

Rating: I. We’ll call this incomplete. The match was good while it lasted but most of the match was spent talking about why they like the business. Other than that was only some decent stuff in the middle which was forgettable at best. This was the match that was set up for the entire show and what we got was good. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of it that could be good.

Overall Rating: F+. This show is indeed terrible, but it’s certainly not Heroes of Wrestling bad. While that show was completely abysmal with the stupid skits and no idea of how to run a show, this at least had a few watchable matches. Dutt vs. Olivencia was some pretty decent stuff and is perfectly fine all things considered. It’s definitely not a good show or even a passable show, but there are FAR worse shows out there. This is much more forgettable than terrible which makes it less entertaining. It’s not worth seeing or anything and this isn’t going to be remembered in any distant time in the future.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

USWA Championship Wrestling
Date: February 2, 1991
Location: USWA Television Studios, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentator: Dave Brown

After Monday’s show, the tag titles are vacant. There was some kind of a controversial finish in the Fabs vs. Lawler/Jarrett and we’ll have a rematch two days after this show. Gee, I wonder if they’ll have Lawler talk a lot about it here. I’ve been enjoying these shows as they fly by pretty fast and Lawler is awesome at this point. Let’s get to it.

New Kids vs. Fabulous Ones

Tony dropkicks Stan down to start as Cornette is running his mouth on commentary. Miller is kicked down by Stan Lane the Karate Master so it’s off to Christopher. Brian superkicks Keirn down for two and Cornette is losing it. He goes to manage as Keirn can’t figure Christopher out. A backdrop finally puts him down so it’s off to Lane who gets caught in a quick sunset flip for two. Off to Tony who is slammed down with ease.

Jim is back on commentary to make the match that much better. The New Kids keep trying for a fast win because they can’t go man to man vs. the Fabs. Keirn slams Tony’s head into a chair on the floor and it’s back inside. Tony gets between Stan’s legs and makes the tag to Christopher. The Fabs double team him again and it’s back to the outside. Keirn is illegal and piledrives Miller for the DQ. It was a DQ at times and at times it wasn’t so it’s hard to keep up with.

Rating: C-. Not much of a match but this is how you give someone a rub. The New Kids weren’t proven yet so having them hang in there with a famous team like the Fabulous Ones and even pick up a win here is a great way to make the New Kids look a lot better. The Fabs couldn’t pin them which is a major key. Not a great match, but a good rub.

Lawler makes the save post match.

After a break Lawler says he’ll be at a sporting goods store today so come see him and get some free stuff. We get a clip from the tag title match on Monday where the Fabulous Ones cheated to hit three piledrivers on Jarrett. Lawler finally got the hot tag and cleaned house. The referee went down and Lane took a piledriver. Jamie Dundee, future wrestler but current referee, comes in to call for the DQ as the regular referee was waking up to count the fall.

Lawler says the titles are being held up and Dundee will be in their corner for the rematch on Monday. Also the special guest referee will be Jackie Fargo. That’s a huge deal. Lawler talks about the history with Fargo who mentored all three of them (Lawler and Fabs) and how the Fabs are nothing to be proud of now that they’re with Cornette. Solid promo here from Lawler.

Video on Jackie Fargo and his influence on the Fabs. This includes a clip from 1982 with Fargo saying if the Fabs ever changed their attitudes, he’d leave them.

Cornette talks about how the deck is stacked up against them because there’s no other way for Lawler to beat them. He says that after they get the titles, they’ll take out Fargo. That’s crossing the line to the Fabs and Keirn rips into him. They leave and Cornette is panicking.

Mid-South show ad.

US Male Curtis Thompson (a mailman) says he doesn’t want to be with Robert Fuller anymore. Neither does his new partner, who is named Chris Walker.

US Males vs. Bill Rush/Sgt. O’Reilly

So one of the guys is named US Male and the team is the US Males? So Walker doesn’t mean much at all here does he? Walker and the Sarge start and it’s off to the mailman quickly. Thompson slams him a few times so it’s time for Rush. A gorilla press gets about 10 reps and a suplex/cross body combination gets the quick pin.

Uptown Bruno’s boys run their mouths for a bit.

Brian Lee/Doug Gilbert/Dirty White Boy vs. Freezer Thompson/TD Steel/Night Train Jackson

White Boy and Thompson start us off and all of the heels get slammed. The first thirty seconds of this has Bruno saying one LONG sentence. Jackson has a pretty awesome name. Freezer gets taken down and it’s finally off to Steel. Jackson comes in and is immediately triple teamed and pinned. Squash here.

House show ads.

Lawler introduces some guys from the sporting goods store that he’ll be at later today.

We meet a new team called the Eliminators. One is in a mask and the other isn’t Kronus. The guy in the mask talks and that’s not Saturn so these are different Eliminators.

Eliminators vs. Keith Eric/Chris Frazier

The Eliminators go crazy and it’s a wild beating before the bell. We start with the masked one vs. Frazier with the latter being quickly thrown to the outside. Frazier gets thrown into the corner and a double team sets up a kind of top rope cross body/shoulder block for the pin. Total squash.

Mid-South show ads.

Cornette brings out the Fabs again and it’s the same thing again: Keirn will not jump Fargo, period. Since the last time they were here, a kid asked him to do anything but hurt Jackie. Keirn says he won’t fight Jackie no matter what and leaves. Cornette is freaking out and says they’ll win anyway because they’re awesome.

Tom Pritchard and Terry Garvin are here with Uptown Bruno and say they’re awesome, but they don’t want to be in Memphis. They support Funk, not Lawler and Dundee. Pritchard wants Jarrett’s Southern Heavyweight Title. Garvin says he’s a barber and is going to cut hair starting today. He says Danny Davis gets his blonde hair from peroxide, not his mama’s side or his daddy’s side.

Tom Pritchard/Terry Garvin vs. Danny Davis/Jerry Lynn

Pritchard and Davis start things off and that goes nowhere. Double tag to Lynn and Garvin and they run the ropes. Garvin hurts his knee on a leapfrog but he’s goldbricking. Lynn hits a king of tilt-a-whirl to take him back down and it’s back to Davis. His neckbreaker gets two and everything breaks down. Bruno sprays something on a towel and runs in to smother Davis with it, drawing a quick DQ.

Both guys are knocked out by the ether rag and Davis almost gets a haircut but the save is made.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a much better show as the stuff about Jackie was really interesting and a nice touch to add to the story. It makes this feel like a much bigger match rather than just another match where the tag titles are up for grabs. That’s really been missing from the shows so it’s nice to see them add it in. Good stuff.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Ring Ka King TV
Date: January 28, 2012
Location: Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune, India
Commentators: Siddharth Kanan, Joe Bath

After this, never let it be said that I don’t give the people what they ask for. I’ve gotten a lot of requests from people for this show so why not. This is the TNA related company formed in India. The name means King of the Ring in some Indian language. Odds are this is going to be the only episode I watch of it but if it’s good I might take another look. There are a lot of big named stars over there so let’s get to it.

We open with a musical performance. It’s an Indian performer who has a bunch of dancing girls. I don’t speak whatever language this is so I can’t say anything here. The crowd seems to dig it. I’ve heard there were about 1,500 people here which isn’t bad. The set is similar to Impact’s but in a bigger arena. Apparently this guy’s name is Mika.

After he’s done the ring announcer comes in and thank goodness she speaks English. That’s one of the main reasons I don’t watch puro: I have no idea what’s going on. And never mind as they’re in another language again. I think they’re saying it’s awesome to be here or something like that. She’s shifting between languages. Either that or some of the words are the same. There’s talk of a singles and tag titles and female wrestlers. She introduces the announcers and I have no idea what they’re saying. The fans seem to like them so maybe they’re known.

Now we bring out a guy named Harbhajan Singh, who appears to be a cricket player of some national renown. He’s listed as a Ring Ka King goodwill ambassador. Mika starts a chant of Singh is King or something like that. The singer wishes him good luck and that’s about it. I’m just trying to pick up what I can here. Mika leaves.

Singh talks some more and says something about international wrestling and Ring Ka King. The girls are still at ringside. He sends us to a video of a familiar face: Chavo Guerrero Jr. He talks about being around the world but that he’s never been to India and is here to become Ring Ka King Champion.

Chavo comes to the ring and Singh introduces someone else: Maxx B. He appears to be a boxing/fighting character but I don’t recognize him and he doesn’t speak English. The announcers talk about MMA during’ Maxx’s entrance.

Sir Brutus Magnus says he’ll win the title. He calls himself the International Athlete.

Next up is Doctor Nicholas Dinsmore, who is of course Nick Dinsmore, aka Eugene. I think these are just introductions of wrestlers. Dinsmore comes out in a medical outfit which is a character you don’t really see that often.

Sonjay Dutt has a dollar sign above his name and gets a huge pop due to being from India.

In sixth (they’re just standing in the ring) is Mahabali Veera, a muscular guy who doesn’t speak English either. He appears to be the tallest and most popular guy so far.

Next up is Scott Steiner who talks about his arms and short fuse.

Matt Morgan says he’s 7’0 tall which is still a lie. He’s here to become world champion. Morgan and Steiner came out to their TNA music. Morgan is in street clothes.

Now we move onto the Commissioner, a man named Jazzy Laharia who is with someone named Deadly Danda, who I guess is a bodyguard. I’m assuming Deadly is the guy in the military gear and has what appeared to be a sword. He’s almost as tall as Matt Morgan. Singh talks some more and I think these eight are going to be in a Heavyweight Title Tournament. The belt comes down from the ceiling and pyro goes off. The belt looks like the ECW Silver Title but with a sticker on the middle of it.

We get a quick video of all eight people here and a graphic saying Ring Ka King Heavyweight Title Tournament.

Now here’s Jeremy Borash who speaks English and talks to Morgan, who says everyone is honored to be in India. Magnus cuts him off and puts his arms around Dutt and Steiner and says they’re going to take over Ring Ka King. A brawl is started but Deadly Danda breaks it up.

Ring Ka King Heavyweight Title Tournament: Dr. Nicholas Dinsmore vs. Mahabali Veera

We’re about 25 minutes into the show not counting commercials and here’s the first match. And no I’m not holding that against them as it’s the debut episode. Dinsmore is basically the heel by default here. He cheats a top wristlock by pulling the hair to bring him down. Dinsmore sends him to the floor but Veera gets a sunset flip for two. Veera has a good look to him and moves well for a bigger (as in taller) guy. The referee is in a green shirt. Off to a chinlock by Dinsmore but Veera hits a spinebuster (called the Veera Bomb) for the pin at 2:59. Short but fine.

Magnus is on the phone in the back to his boss and talks about how he, Dutt and Steiner (all in the room) have three of the eight spots in the tournament and are going to dominate both it and Ring Ka King. It’s Magnus vs. Morgan in the first round.

Someone called Shera brings out American Adonis, who is more known as Chris Masters. He does the same entrance that he did as the Masterpiece. He’s a lot bigger than he used to be too so I guess the roids are rolling again. Masters says he’s here to prove that no one can break his Adonis Lock. Back to the old classics I guess. He’s put up a lock of Indian Rupees (whatever that means. A lock I mean. I know what Rupees are) to anyone that wants to try it. There’s a briefcase in there so I’m assuming it has the money in it.

A plant accepts the challenge and we get a referee and the chair. The guy is named Zed. What kind of a name is Zed? He’s from Pune and gets thrown all over the place in the full nelson. And he’s out cold in about 10 seconds.

Veera says something which I’d assume means he’ll win. Singh comes in and shakes his hand. Morgan comes up to shake his hand and says he hopes to see Veera in the finals.

Next week (I think) it’s Steiner vs. Maxx B and Chavo vs. Dutt in the tournament.

Ring Ka King Heavyweight Title Tournament: Sir Brutus Magnus vs. Matt Morgan

Magnus runs to the corner to start. Morgan gets his hands on him and throws him around with ease. Magnus gets sent to the floor and it’s time for a chase scene. Morgan misses a corner splash and Magnus takes over. A slam attempt fails as Morgan falls onto him for two. Off to an abdominal stretch by Magnus which Morgan easily escapes and starts his comeback. He beats Magnus up and hits a chokeslam, followed by the Carbon Footprint for the pin at 5:14.

Rating: D. This was a really basic and boring power match. I’ve seen far worse but there really isn’t anything going on here. Morgan looks like a force though which is the point of this. Not terrible but if Magnus is supposed to be the top heel in the company or at least the mouthpiece for it (no sign of him being a coward yet) shouldn’t he be treated as something better than a jobber to the stars like he was here?

Dutt and Steiner come in for an attempted beatdown but Veera makes the save. A tag team staredown ends the show.

Overall Rating: B-. As a wrestling show it was boring but for a show designed to introduce us to the product, I can’t really complain much here. They set up the tournament and we have a top heel group already. Veera looks like a star (although we didn’t get to see much of him in the ring) and Morgan is his usual self. I probably won’t watch this again but it wasn’t that bad at all. The production values were very good and definitely at the same levels as Impact. Great debut and if you’re not familiar with these guys, it’s a great show. It’s probably not for fans that know the talent, though it’s worth a look.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews