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Showtime All-star Wrestling ran their second television taping of 2009 last night in Millersville, featuring the return of Raven.
There were over 200 people crammed into the SAW Mill. It’s been like that for every taping since Raven’s first appearance in November, and does that ever make for better TV. They’ve added a big screen and prime the crowd by running the most recent TV episode before the show.
For pure television wrestling, the first half of this show was outstanding - electric atmosphere from beginning to end. The second half not quite so much.
Arrick Andrews came out to pass the hat for an unnamed wrestler’s surgery. The A-Team tried to steal the money and Vordell Walker got involved. It won’t air but a hell of a rub for Walker.
Reno Riggins and Michael Graham did the opening. This crowd is on fire.
(1) Vordell Walker pinned Tattoo after an STO in less than a minute. Walker’s offense was nothing less than devastating.
(2) Sigmon beat Jesse Emerson via DQ in 6:15. Emerson had a smaller bandage than last time. TVD gave kudos for attention to detail on that one. Sigmon jumped Emerson on the ramp. The ref immediately called for the bell. Why? Solid brawl. Sigmon, for the most part, maintained the upper hand. Things really started cooking and Emerson clocked the ref for the DQ.
(3) Chrisjen Hayme beat Jon Michael Worthington in 6:45. Once again, the fans were deprived of seeing Miss Worthington in the flesh. Another preemptive strike by the heel, except JMW did it right to Hayme’s face. They traded near falls, Hayme with a flying bodypress and Michaels-Worthington with a spinebuster. JMW tried for a pin with his feet on the ropes, but TJ Harley ran down and knocked them off. He barely made it in time. Intentional or not, it added a nice touch of realism. Hayme rolled up the flustered JMW for the three.
(4) Flash Flanagan beat Rick Santel (with Paul Adams) in 8:38. Best match of the night. Both guys were really on. I’m a Flanagan mark from way back. I first saw him wrestle in 1995 for Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and I have fond memories of his matches with Wolfie D from early Music City Wrestling. Santel is in the best shape of his run in SAW. Loud and long chant of “Rick sucks.†Adams tripped up Flanagan to short-ciricuit his attack. Flanagan then inadvertently speared the ringpost and Santel worked over the shoulder. Flanagan dropped Santel on his freaking head with a DVD like this was Japan. Adams dumped Flanagan off the top, but Flanagan recovered and pinned Santel clean with the springboard leg drop. Great stuff.
(5) J. T. Stahr (with Derrick King & Sister Ophelia) beat Chase Owen in 2:40. If he stays healthy, Stahr is going places. He’s got the look, the athletic ability and the charisma. Good height and definition but thin. He’s heel here, but he also has strong babyface potential. Some dude’s head was in the way so I didn’t see Stahr’s finisher.
Dan Masters did a ringside interview with Derrick King Enterprises. Any time I get to see Derrick King perform, I’ve gotten my money’s worth. Stahr told a woman heckler they should be prescribed for Viagra users that exceed the four hour limit. King said unlike everywhere else, business was booming with DKE. He said a star was born in Stahr. No exaggeration there.
Walker came out for another match. King tried to get Walker to join DKE. Walker blew him off.
(6) Vordell Walker pinned V-Rad in 50 seconds with the STO. Crowd popping more for Walker’s intro now. They made all the right moves to position him as a major babyface. V-Rad was a late substitution for Chris Hall. This was weird. Walker was fine for his part, but V-Rad apparently decided he was going to get some offense in. Tried to anyway.
(7) Andy Douglas (with Paul Adams) beat Chase Stevens in 11:08. Douglas looked phenomenal. He’s added a tremendous amount of muscle mass during his time away. I could not believe the size of his arms. Once again, a match that had great heat. The atmosphere in this place is off the hook. Douglas donkey kicked Stevens in the man region and worked over his bad knee. Douglas used the figure four. They traded big near falls, then each countered the other guy’s finisher. Finish saw Stevens chase Adams into the ring. While Adams distracted ref Mark Herron forever and a day, Hammerjack sent Stevens to la la land with the sledge and rolled him back inside. All Douglas had to do was cover him. Stevens was down in the ring for a long time.
Intermission with Raven, a heel, at ringside for autographs. I guess the usual rules don’t apply for stars. Flanagan was set up in the lobby.
Riggins and Graham did the ringside opening for hour number two. The crowd was right on cue with “And SAW starts NOW!â€
(8) TJ Harley beat John Michael Worthington in 7 minutes. Worthington was introduced as being from Muscle Shoals. I thought the Worthingtons resided in the ritzy section of Nashville. Decent match. JMW is rather blank with his facial expressions. Harley mounted the ropes for the 10 punches, but JMW cut him off with a hotshot and pulled a chain out of his ring jacket. The ref took it away. Michaels pulled out a second chain, but Chrisjen Hayme ran down to get that one. Harley pinned JMW with the rolling prawn. Tough times for Rachel’s big brother – two losses in one night.
(9) Hammerjack (with Paul Adams) beat Drew Haskins in 3:15. Haskins was wearing his space man pants. His development appears to have plateaued, at least for the time being. Hammerjack pinned him with the driving elbow drop.
A-Team interview conducted by Masters. Douglas was part of the gang wearing a powder blue dress shirt and shades, Adams cut Hammerjack short. Definitely something brewing there. Santel said Flanagan cheated and demanded a rematch. Adams announced an Empty Arena Match: Adams & Hammerjack vs. Andrews (this was taped after the show).
(10) Arrick Andrews pinned V-Rad with the double underhook DDT in 1:20. Andrews is ridiculously over.
(11) Bad Boy Dixon & Drifter beat Harold Knight & Lightning Bolt Kid in 6:50. This was a dark match on multiple levels. All four guys had black gear. Indietastic action. Good heat because these guys are local favorites. Dixon and Knight are fixtures on the Friday night shows that run on the off weeks from TV tapings. LBK took a flip bump off the top and got pinned by Drifter.
(12) “Boogie Woogie Boy†Gary Valiant beat Raven in 8:30. Raven got a mixed reaction. He’s heel but he’s also a star. Valiant did his full dancing intro while Raven sat in the corner waiting. Needless to say, the crowd was very into this match. They fought outside the ring. Herron could have counted to 30, but he never counted at all. Raven punched the post and sold his hand for the balance of the match. Valiant hit the Boogie Blaster. The lights went out…lights on and Marc Anthony was in the ring beating on Boogie and the ref was down. Boogie gave Anthony a low blow and rolled Raven up.
Postmatch: Raven and Anthony used handcuffs and duct tape to tie Boogie to the ring ropes and painted his face. Anthony tossed a few security guys around. The show closed with Raven and Anthony flanking Boogie and doing the crucifix pose for the camera.
NOTES: Happy Birthday to Trent Van Drisse. It was a pleasure to take in a show with him. We’ve been hooking up to attend pro wrestling shows together for 13 years. His [url=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TVD]Jerkin’ The Curtain[/url] internet radio show returns this Monday, January 20 at 11pm Eastern time with Scott Hudson and Steven Prazak as his guests…Riggins said SAW TV now airs in 32 countries. They’ve added a bigThe next SAW television taping is January 30…A couple of other enhancement since my last visit to SAW – the name wrestlers all have individualized videos for their entrances and they just added a SAW logo to the center of the mat…Dan Masters has been the ringside interviewer for the last two tapings. Masters invited fans to call in to talk about SAW on his weekly radio show, Dan Masters Live, airing Tuesdays at 9pm as part of the GWH radio network.
