Another great night of 3XW action! The place was packed as NWA World Champion Adam Pearce for the first NWA World Heavyweight Championship defense in Des Moines since 1986.
Before the show, we ran into the MAULER, who informed us that he broke his hand in last month's match and will be out of action at least two months. I wept.
Results from the show, in random order because I never remember these things.....
1. Ryan Slade defeated Zach Thompson in a rematch from August's 2011 King of Des Moines tournament match. Thompson attacked Slade's partner AJ Smooth last month, putting him out of action. Slade exacted revenge when he pinned Thompson with his Ry-Plex (fisherman suplex).
2. Gage Octane & Casanova beat the young team of Ray Striker & Barry Rite. We were wearing our new awesome Gage Octane shirts (courtesy of Avarice) and Octane wore his shirt out for the match and acknowledged us. Striker & Ryte started off hot, with Ryte hitting a big dive on the floor on both men. The veteran duo took over, and pinned Striker with a cool sleeperhold/power bomb combo.
3. In the quarterly women's match, Miss Natural beat Stacey O'Brien. Both women were newcomers to 3XW, but Miss Natural asserted herself as the crowd favorite. They exchanged a series of Malenko/Guerrero style rollups and counters to the delight of the crowd. Miss Natural ended up making a comeback and pinned O'Brien with a neckbreaker/suplex thingie.
4. Ricky Kwong defeated Sir Bradley Charles with some long distance help from Arik Cannon. Kwong attacked SBC at the bell, thanks to a distraction from Chad Mylan. SBC made a comeback and looked like he was on his way to victory when Arik Cannon (who was not in the building) appeared on the video screen. As Cannon taunted SBC from afar, Kwong rolled him up for the super sneaky pin. It should be noted that the MAULER did commentary on this match, thus making it an instant classic and one that should be highly sought out by video collectors everywhere.
5. 3XW Heavyweight Championship - Mark Sterling beat Mad Dog McDowell. A stiff, punishing match between two of the strongest men in 3XW. Sterling worked over Mad Dog's arm in an attempt to weaken him. After a brawl outside the ring, Sterling was able to nail Mad Dog with a spear and get the pinfall. After the match, Sterling put Mad Dog in a cross armbreaker to further injure him. Skylar Pierce, Mad Dog's manager, tired to break them up, but got decked by Sterling for his efforts. Jon West, Mad Dog's tag partner ran out, but Sterling leveled him with his Disaster Piece finisher, a fireman's carry buckle ram into an emerald frosien! Ryan Slade hit the ring with his Canadian flag pole and chased Sterling off. The American Bulldogs (West & McDowell) and the Canadian Sex Icon Ryan Slade stood together in a wonderful display of North American solidarity. Could the 2011 King of Des Moines winner finally get his title shot?
Intermission: Fans could get their picture taken with Adam Pearce and have him autograph it. Connor and Avarice took part. They also interviewed Avarice about the cool NWA/3XW title belt that he made for the match, which had been autographed by both Pearce and Wyatt. It was being raffled off before the main event started.
6. 3XW Tag Team Championship - Non Title Match - American Ground & Air (Ben Sailer & Nate Bash) battled Mike Sydal & Jimmy Rockwell to a 15 minute draw. Sailer & Bash started off hot, double teaming Rockwell and keeping him in their corner. Rockwell battled back and made the hot tag to Sydal. From there, the challengers took the champions to the woodshed. Rockwell trapped Sailer in a Boston Crab with one minute left in the match, but the time expired before Sailer tapped. The champions beat a hasty retreat back to the dressing room.
7. Tony Sly beat Devin Carter in a battle of former partners on Genesis. Sly explained that Genesis used him for 13 months with no titles to show for it, so he's going to take Genesis apart, starting with Devin Carter. After a wild battle, Sly made good on his promise, pinning Carter after his elbow drop/neckbreaker move.
8. Jaysin Strife beat Jon West in a battle of fan favorites. West and Skylar Pierce came out to the ring favoring their necks after Mark Sterling's attack in the 3XW title match. Strife was impressive with his flying moves. West showed that he moves well with his own aerial attack. Strife got the pin after a double foot stomp out of the corner and his second rope flying DDT.
9. NWA World Heavyweight Championship - Adam Pearce beat Jeremy Wyatt by DQ in the classic NWA "Dusty finish". The crowd was super pumped for this match, especially when Wyatt came out wearing his NWA Central States title from the Metro Pro promotion, which he never wears in 3XW. Pearce focused his attack on Wyatt's knee, which was injured in November by Sterling. He put Wyatt in a couple of long figure four leglocks, which Wyatt finally reversed. Both men exchanged brutal chops throughout the match. Wyatt used a dive outside the ring and a missle dropkick to get pin attempts on Pearce. After a ref bump, Wyatt had Peace trapped in the Kansas City Crossface and caused him to tap, but no ref to count the submission. Mark Sterling ran out to the ring to attack Wyatt, but his spear attempt missed Wyatt and leveled Pearce. Wyatt got the pinfall when a substitute ref (the returning face Steve Beiley) hit the ring. The crowd erupted, thinking Wyatt had won the title. I was afraid, however, that the fix was on. Original referee Jeremy Robb got up and signaled that he was disqualifying Wyatt for Sterling's interference, which did not please the crowd.
After the match, Sterling was outside of the ring, laughing that he cost Wyatt the title. Wyatt hit him with a huge dive to the floor. They battled back to the dressing room, and then through the front door into the crowd. They hit the ring and Pearce combined with Sterling to beat down Wyatt. As they left the ring, Wyatt gave them the double finger and challeneged Sterling to another Iron Man match!
Fun time at 3XW! Joe, an original 3XW fan since day 1, won the raffle for Avarice's title belt. I'm glad he won since he's a nice guy and never misses a show.
Next month, Perry Saturn will be competing in 3XW. Should be interesting!
