Tape Trading through Time & Space (An LOW Story)
May 26, 2021 21:50:39 GMT -5
walkswithwolf likes this
Post by leicscity on May 26, 2021 21:50:39 GMT -5
The DVD jumps to a baseball stadium for something called "The Wrestling Fair" - there appears to be a lot of people here. It seems like a bit of a carnival atmosphere, and there is a giant Ferris (neither Wayne, nor Earthquake) Wheel prominently in the background of the ring shot. The announcers hype up that the WWA World Title Semi-final match will be on this card, as well as a "Loser-Leaves Town" between Tiger Conway, Jr. vs "Dangerous" Del Wilkes. I guess that escalated quickly...
Jake Milliman vs Disco Inferno
Fun little match, Milliman had his moments, but eats the Last Dance. It was exactly what you'd expect, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've seen worse Disco matches.
Winner: Disco Inferno by pinfall
----------
Ric McCord vs George South
Another fun, if generally basic, match. It's interesting to see that this crowd, which may not necessarily be a wrestling crowd, per se, is into these matches reacting even to relatively basic moves like a hiptoss. Seems to be doing a good job of setting the stage for later, with solid action early. I almost forgot the finish: it was a flying body press from McCord which brought "oooh"s and "ahhh"s from the crowd.
Winner: Ric McCord by pinfall
----------
Southeastern Title Match: Mikey Whipwreck (c) vs George Tragos
A little bit of layering in the some more of the "stunt" like moves from Whipwreck, but it played well against what had come before, and was reigned in by the work of Tragos here. Another fun match, the champ retained with the Whipper-Snapper.
Winner and still Southeastern Champion: Mikey Whipwreck
----------
Stan Lane (w/ Jim Cornette) vs Brad Armstrong
More Layering! I must say, this is (so far) a pretty well put together card (especially for a more casual audience), with each match building off the one before. Hope it continues this way. Here we had the "unfair fight" of Armstrong holding the upper hand most of the way, only for Cornette to interfere/distract at key moments swinging the match back to Lane. Armstrong hit the Russian Leg Sweep, and briefly got his hands on Cornette, but Lane finally recovered, hit an Enzuigiri and covered Armstrong for the pin and win to the boos from the crowd.
Winner: Stan Lane by pinfall
----------
Hillbilly Jim vs United States Tag Team Champion The Barbarian
Let's be charitable and call this the "unofficial intermission" of the card. That's being a bit unfair, as the match wasn't THAT bad, just a bit slow. Especially compared to the last 2 matches. Jim caught a shoulderblock attempt from Barbarian into a Bearhug, and after a few seconds the Barbarian submitted! I'll call it a minor upset.
Winner: Hillbilly Jim by submission
----------
Loser Leaves Town - No DQ: Tiger Conway, Jr. vs "Dangerous" Del Wilkes
Unclear how much time passed since Wilkes abandoned The Patriot persona, but I guess this turned into a rather large blood feud on the circuit, leading to this match. Not entirely obvious to me what the contracts these guys are under so I don't even know what result I'm supposed to expect! Apparently, it is a No DQ match as well, which Wilkes makes liberal use of by bringing chairs and other objects into the ring. Finally, someone in the crowd comes has had enough and jumps the barrier (which seems sort of reckless in this setting), but the announcers mention that it is Tiger Conway, Sr! Wilkes seems distracted and the elder Conway doesn't physically get involved, just cheering his son from the ringside area. Junior fights his way back, and after riling up the crowd hits the flying headbutt for the win! Wilkes sold it like it killed him and was taken out on a stretcher! I guess that's it for Wilkes here in Sun Belt, and perhaps the Conways are going to be a team going forward? Interesting way to work this one, one could argue that this might have been better as the main event possibly, but I'm not sure what else (besides the WWA Title semi-final) is on the rest of the show...
Winner: Tiger Conway, Jr. by pinfall
----------
United States Tag Team Champion Sandman vs Manny Fernandez
This was just a wild brawl, perhaps even more out of control than previous match and, with it not being a No DQ match, it ended with a DQ. It came when Sandman grabbed his Singapore Cane for a White Russian Legsweep, but before hitting the move, he smashed it over Manny's head in full view of the ref. Not sure of the point of that, other than to show that the Sandman is a psychopath that doesn't care about (at least) Singles match wins?
Winner: Manny Fernandez by DQ
----------
The Pitbulls vs The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey w/Jim Cornette)
Another interesting match, the Pitbulls dominated with their power advantage early, but again Cornette interfered at just the right time to keep his team in the match. Eventually, the Express took over and dominated for long periods hitting numerous double team moves for 2 counts. The Pitbulls fought back, again overpowering Condrey and was about to hit the Superbomb when Stan Lane came out and superkicked Pitbull #2 to cause a DQ. The Express then used the Pitbulls own dog collar and chains against them in a savage beating until the Armstrong Brothers (Brad & Brian) came out to even the odds and chase the Express away! Somewhat unfortunate that this was another DQ, I suspect there is something more being set up here. Interestingly, the fact that Brian Armstrong came out meant that he was already in the ring for the WWA World Title semi-final that was apparently next.
Winners: The Pitbulls by DQ
----------
WWA World Title Semi-final: Fit Finlay vs Brian Armstrong
As soon as the bell rang, the Midnight Express all came back out, and while they weren't terribly close to the ring itself, were certainly close enough to distract Armstrong. They appeared to be cheering on Finlay who, at first, didn't seem to notice or care. A decent match came about in the ring, though it must be said, not necessarily what one would expect from top contenders to a "World" Title. Still, it was an entertaining back-and-forth battle and during it, the 3 members of the Midnights (plus Cornette) came closer and closer to the ring. Finlay hit Armstrong with his piledriver finisher...but only got 2! By now the Express were around ringside, Brad Armstrong was back out and jawing with Eaton and Lane, while Condrey distracted the ref. Cornette called Finlay over to give him the tennis racket, but Finlay responded by DECKING CORNETTE to the cheers of the crowd! This ended up giving Armstrong enough time to hit a neckbreaker on Finlay for...TWO! Armstrong looked like he was about to set Finlay up for another big move, when Finlay rolled out of the ring. By now, Cornette had recovered slightly and told the Express what happened, and they all jumped on Finlay! The Armstrongs then both came over to save Finlay! Finally the Pitbulls came out as well, and somewhere in there the ref rang the bell. After driving the Express away from ringside, Finlay and Brian got back in the ring and both were willing to continue their match, however the ref had called the match off. As the Express attacked Finlay first, Finlay was awarded the match by DQ. Neither man seemed happy about it, but they didn't come to blows. In the end, another decision that shows how cautious the promotors are being with respect to the WWA World Title, but we do have a final set: The Crusher from Tri-States and Fit Finlay from Sun Belt.
Winner: Fit Finlay by DQ
----------
Main Event - United States Title Match: Vampiro (c) vs Bruiser Brody
Vampiro appeared to be hobbling a bit as he came to the ring, not sure where or how he picked up an injury but he clearly wasn't 100%. This ended up being a fast match, perhaps due to the apparent injury, perhaps due to the craziness of the matches previously. This one, at least, had a relatively clean finish, as a Brody turnbuckle charge was avoided and Vampiro managed a rollup for a super quick 3 count to retain! Not exactly sure what happened there, but it did come off as a bit of a flat ending to what had been, for the majority of it, a really fun event. Still Vampiro retains, and remains the US champ!
Winner and Still United States Champion: Vampiro
----------
After the end of the match, there was a jump cut to a cut-in from Gordon Solie who reported that the "WWA Championship Committee" has ruled that due to all of the DQ finishes during the tournament, in order to have a decisive World Champion, the finals will be held inside a steel cage! He was interrupted by Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane, Dennis Condrey and Jim Cornette in a celebratory mood. Cornette explained that it was always the intention to cost Brian Armstrong the WWA title opportunity and Finlay was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Still he wished Finlay would win the title as it would be much easier for one of his men to take the title off of a local wrestler than having to travel "around the world" to chase The Crusher. Solie quickly changed the mood of the Express when he informed them that he had also talked to the local Sun Belt promoters and in order to guarantee that the Express would be in no position to ruin the World Title Match, that ALL FOUR of them would be in a "Battle Lines" match against the Pitbulls & The Armstrongs the same night as the World Title match. From the description it sounds like "Battle Lines" is the War Games match. No mention was made of any injury to Vampiro, or anything about the US Title, so I guess that's a non-issue for now. But now we know what to look forward to somewhere on the last 2 DVDs! (I hope...)
Jake Milliman vs Disco Inferno
Fun little match, Milliman had his moments, but eats the Last Dance. It was exactly what you'd expect, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've seen worse Disco matches.
Winner: Disco Inferno by pinfall
----------
Ric McCord vs George South
Another fun, if generally basic, match. It's interesting to see that this crowd, which may not necessarily be a wrestling crowd, per se, is into these matches reacting even to relatively basic moves like a hiptoss. Seems to be doing a good job of setting the stage for later, with solid action early. I almost forgot the finish: it was a flying body press from McCord which brought "oooh"s and "ahhh"s from the crowd.
Winner: Ric McCord by pinfall
----------
Southeastern Title Match: Mikey Whipwreck (c) vs George Tragos
A little bit of layering in the some more of the "stunt" like moves from Whipwreck, but it played well against what had come before, and was reigned in by the work of Tragos here. Another fun match, the champ retained with the Whipper-Snapper.
Winner and still Southeastern Champion: Mikey Whipwreck
----------
Stan Lane (w/ Jim Cornette) vs Brad Armstrong
More Layering! I must say, this is (so far) a pretty well put together card (especially for a more casual audience), with each match building off the one before. Hope it continues this way. Here we had the "unfair fight" of Armstrong holding the upper hand most of the way, only for Cornette to interfere/distract at key moments swinging the match back to Lane. Armstrong hit the Russian Leg Sweep, and briefly got his hands on Cornette, but Lane finally recovered, hit an Enzuigiri and covered Armstrong for the pin and win to the boos from the crowd.
Winner: Stan Lane by pinfall
----------
Hillbilly Jim vs United States Tag Team Champion The Barbarian
Let's be charitable and call this the "unofficial intermission" of the card. That's being a bit unfair, as the match wasn't THAT bad, just a bit slow. Especially compared to the last 2 matches. Jim caught a shoulderblock attempt from Barbarian into a Bearhug, and after a few seconds the Barbarian submitted! I'll call it a minor upset.
Winner: Hillbilly Jim by submission
----------
Loser Leaves Town - No DQ: Tiger Conway, Jr. vs "Dangerous" Del Wilkes
Unclear how much time passed since Wilkes abandoned The Patriot persona, but I guess this turned into a rather large blood feud on the circuit, leading to this match. Not entirely obvious to me what the contracts these guys are under so I don't even know what result I'm supposed to expect! Apparently, it is a No DQ match as well, which Wilkes makes liberal use of by bringing chairs and other objects into the ring. Finally, someone in the crowd comes has had enough and jumps the barrier (which seems sort of reckless in this setting), but the announcers mention that it is Tiger Conway, Sr! Wilkes seems distracted and the elder Conway doesn't physically get involved, just cheering his son from the ringside area. Junior fights his way back, and after riling up the crowd hits the flying headbutt for the win! Wilkes sold it like it killed him and was taken out on a stretcher! I guess that's it for Wilkes here in Sun Belt, and perhaps the Conways are going to be a team going forward? Interesting way to work this one, one could argue that this might have been better as the main event possibly, but I'm not sure what else (besides the WWA Title semi-final) is on the rest of the show...
Winner: Tiger Conway, Jr. by pinfall
----------
United States Tag Team Champion Sandman vs Manny Fernandez
This was just a wild brawl, perhaps even more out of control than previous match and, with it not being a No DQ match, it ended with a DQ. It came when Sandman grabbed his Singapore Cane for a White Russian Legsweep, but before hitting the move, he smashed it over Manny's head in full view of the ref. Not sure of the point of that, other than to show that the Sandman is a psychopath that doesn't care about (at least) Singles match wins?
Winner: Manny Fernandez by DQ
----------
The Pitbulls vs The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey w/Jim Cornette)
Another interesting match, the Pitbulls dominated with their power advantage early, but again Cornette interfered at just the right time to keep his team in the match. Eventually, the Express took over and dominated for long periods hitting numerous double team moves for 2 counts. The Pitbulls fought back, again overpowering Condrey and was about to hit the Superbomb when Stan Lane came out and superkicked Pitbull #2 to cause a DQ. The Express then used the Pitbulls own dog collar and chains against them in a savage beating until the Armstrong Brothers (Brad & Brian) came out to even the odds and chase the Express away! Somewhat unfortunate that this was another DQ, I suspect there is something more being set up here. Interestingly, the fact that Brian Armstrong came out meant that he was already in the ring for the WWA World Title semi-final that was apparently next.
Winners: The Pitbulls by DQ
----------
WWA World Title Semi-final: Fit Finlay vs Brian Armstrong
As soon as the bell rang, the Midnight Express all came back out, and while they weren't terribly close to the ring itself, were certainly close enough to distract Armstrong. They appeared to be cheering on Finlay who, at first, didn't seem to notice or care. A decent match came about in the ring, though it must be said, not necessarily what one would expect from top contenders to a "World" Title. Still, it was an entertaining back-and-forth battle and during it, the 3 members of the Midnights (plus Cornette) came closer and closer to the ring. Finlay hit Armstrong with his piledriver finisher...but only got 2! By now the Express were around ringside, Brad Armstrong was back out and jawing with Eaton and Lane, while Condrey distracted the ref. Cornette called Finlay over to give him the tennis racket, but Finlay responded by DECKING CORNETTE to the cheers of the crowd! This ended up giving Armstrong enough time to hit a neckbreaker on Finlay for...TWO! Armstrong looked like he was about to set Finlay up for another big move, when Finlay rolled out of the ring. By now, Cornette had recovered slightly and told the Express what happened, and they all jumped on Finlay! The Armstrongs then both came over to save Finlay! Finally the Pitbulls came out as well, and somewhere in there the ref rang the bell. After driving the Express away from ringside, Finlay and Brian got back in the ring and both were willing to continue their match, however the ref had called the match off. As the Express attacked Finlay first, Finlay was awarded the match by DQ. Neither man seemed happy about it, but they didn't come to blows. In the end, another decision that shows how cautious the promotors are being with respect to the WWA World Title, but we do have a final set: The Crusher from Tri-States and Fit Finlay from Sun Belt.
Winner: Fit Finlay by DQ
----------
Main Event - United States Title Match: Vampiro (c) vs Bruiser Brody
Vampiro appeared to be hobbling a bit as he came to the ring, not sure where or how he picked up an injury but he clearly wasn't 100%. This ended up being a fast match, perhaps due to the apparent injury, perhaps due to the craziness of the matches previously. This one, at least, had a relatively clean finish, as a Brody turnbuckle charge was avoided and Vampiro managed a rollup for a super quick 3 count to retain! Not exactly sure what happened there, but it did come off as a bit of a flat ending to what had been, for the majority of it, a really fun event. Still Vampiro retains, and remains the US champ!
Winner and Still United States Champion: Vampiro
----------
After the end of the match, there was a jump cut to a cut-in from Gordon Solie who reported that the "WWA Championship Committee" has ruled that due to all of the DQ finishes during the tournament, in order to have a decisive World Champion, the finals will be held inside a steel cage! He was interrupted by Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane, Dennis Condrey and Jim Cornette in a celebratory mood. Cornette explained that it was always the intention to cost Brian Armstrong the WWA title opportunity and Finlay was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Still he wished Finlay would win the title as it would be much easier for one of his men to take the title off of a local wrestler than having to travel "around the world" to chase The Crusher. Solie quickly changed the mood of the Express when he informed them that he had also talked to the local Sun Belt promoters and in order to guarantee that the Express would be in no position to ruin the World Title Match, that ALL FOUR of them would be in a "Battle Lines" match against the Pitbulls & The Armstrongs the same night as the World Title match. From the description it sounds like "Battle Lines" is the War Games match. No mention was made of any injury to Vampiro, or anything about the US Title, so I guess that's a non-issue for now. But now we know what to look forward to somewhere on the last 2 DVDs! (I hope...)
