PWInsiderXTRA - WWE News, Wrestling News, WWE

NWA MAIN EVENT TV REPORT

Available starting September 5, 2009 at nwame.com
Taped August 27, 2009 at the NWA Studios in Nashville

EARLIER TODAY…a limo pulled into the parking lot of the NWA Studio. Presumably, “the he’s coming” mystery man had arrived.

Jason James and Scott Barry did the review/preview from ringside. What’s up with that echo? The big deal: Shawn Shultz got the Mid-America Title match he wanted from the NWA, but as Steve-O said, it would be do or die time for him. James said today’s show would feature a good old-fashioned contact signing.

(1) White Tiger beat Masked Kayfabian in 6:18. Props to whoever came up with the name. Kayfabian was in all black except for a blue face on the mask. Tiger is the most over babyface they have except O. Barry and James talked storylines most of the way. Barry said no way Teddy Tender was in the Bahamas, the footage last week was shot in somebody’s basement with Green Screen. James said Travis Sawyer was punishing Mike Posey by making him start over at the bottom rung (as in Victor Kosmo). James said O was still out with the esophagus injury but called it a Meniscus tear. I guess The Graduate flunked anatomy. James said “he” was coming to NWA ME and NOT to the Stadium Inn. As for the match, Kayfabian used a low blow to win a battle of backslide attempts. His big offensive move was a wheelbarrow suplex for a near fall. Tiger got the pin after Tiger’s Pounce and the Tiger Splash.

Next up, was a Project Prominence vignette. Tony Lucassio was trying to calm down his main man, Shawn Shultz, who was hyperventilating about Bill Behrens announcement. Lucassio reminded Shultz that he had beaten O before. Travis Sawyer pointed out that O had also beaten Shultz before. “Hey, that’s not good for morale, Travis. Relax, will ya?” said Tony. Shultz was freaking about all of them being fired. Sawyer kept stirring it.

You got a rat in your trunks, brother? He said YOU were fired.

Lucassio started doing this hypnotic hocus pocus to convince Shultz that once he saw O everything would be just fine.

NWA Main Event returns to Woodbury, Tn at the Cannon County Community Center on September 11 with “Red White & Bruised” featuring Veronica Fairchild vs. Su Yung and a special ceremony to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11.

(2) Corey Hollis beat “Demented” Devin Greene in 3:45. Like a fool, Hollis turned his back on Greene to play to the crowd and got nailed. Geez, I hate it when a babyface does that. Hollis ran wild with the aerial attack. “Where did he get all that energy, and what did it cost, because I’d like to get some,” said James. Greene took over with an eye rake. He was still struggling with that mask. You would think the guy would invest in a new one after last week. Sleeper hold applied. No Nashville wrestling show is complete without one. Hollis powered up. Hollis got the pin with a ¾ Pele Kick out of the blue. Bad match.

Will Owens entered the ring with a crowbar and dismantled the top turnbuckles. Story was he was upset about not being booked, and decided to take the ring apart. Hollis came out to talk sense into him. Owens konked Hollis with the tire iron. “Boogie Woogie Boy” Gary Valiant (in flip flops) attacked Owens. He got in two punches and an elbow before Owens bailed. The announce team went nuts.

(3) Tommy Capone beat Lani Kialoha in 2:24. James said the returning Capone was a mainstay during the ‘03 Inferno Bar era of NWA Main Event. They cut to a clip of Valiant’s UNBELIEVABLE return. Lani unleashed the Polynesian fury. Capone side stepped a flying shoulder block, went to the apron and waited…and waited…and waited for Lani to slam his head into the turnbuckle pad. Lani tried to suplex Capone back to the inside, but Tender sneaked out of the dressing room, grabbed Lani's leg and held on while Capone got the pin. Capone was clueless about Tender's interference. OK for storyline purposes.

(4) Victor Kosmo beat Mike Posey in 6:42. Barry wondered why Posey was subjecting himself to all this humiliation just to associate with Project Prominence. James said, “Fame and money I guess.” Posey humiliated Kosmo. A Golden Rule kind a guy that Posey. Kosmo’s rally was cut off when Posey got his knees up on a quebrada. Posey worked over Kosmo’s gut. James mentioned a fan getting hit with ketchup. No idea what that was about. Posey hit his slingshot dropkick with victim in the tree of woe. Posey did the worst abdominal stretch ever. Kosmo countered out, dropkicked the knee, and did a dragon screw leg whip into a single leg crab. Posey made the ropes. Kosmo got the pin with a flying body scissors into a reverse roll up with a bridge.

Cut to a shot of the limo driver (from the waist down) opening the door of the limo.

In the ring, Barry interviewed Kosmo about getting his first win in NWA ME. Kosmo answered in Russian, but did say he loved the US. The lights went out. When they came back on, Vic the Bruiser was standing over Kosmo. HE had arrived to zero crowd reaction.

I’m not takin’ sides. I’m takin’ over. Armageddon has arrived in NWA Main Event.

(5) Travis Sawyer (with Tony Lucassio) beat Mike Rapada Jr in 11:48. Lucassio took over for Barry on commentary. A battle of wits with James ensued. It got excessive, but some of Lucassio’s stuff was hilarious. He called Sawyer’s moves, like the Detroit chinlock “straight from 313”. James said he thought Lucassio was from Chicago. Lucassio said it was Cleveland actually. They argued over which city was worse. James brought up Bert’s line about wanting to see Lucassio get punched in the face. Sawyer was toying with Rapada but the announce team was too busy bantering to call the match. It was nice to see a snug rear chinlock for a change, well sold by Rapada. James and Lucassio got into a ridiculous discussion whether or not Rapada was giving up. James said his arm was still floating in midair. Lucassio maintained it was still connected to his body. Sawyer kept making half-assed covers. Beat Rapada’s head in from the mount, just completely dismantled the guy. Sawyer missed middle rope diving headbutt. James said he hit the canvas faster than a watermelon out of a two story building. Rapada’s big comeback spot was getting Sawyer up for a slam. Rapada tried to make it a trio of Stringer splashes. Three times not a charm, just as Lucassio predicted. Buzzsaw~! 1-2-3. Match went way too long.

In the ring, James was behind the podium for the contract signing. O came out wearing the neckbrace. Lucassio gave Shultz his full blown intro. Shultz said he should have never doubted Lucassio, because he could beat O any day of the week. O signed the contract. Shultz balked. James told Shultz either sign or forfeit and be fired on the spot. Shultz signed. James pointed out clause 36, which stated all members of Project Prominence would be barred from ringside. Shultz threw the pen at O and knocked the lectern down. He was pointing at O’s neck. O turned away but Shultz spun him around. “Don’t walk away from me, boy, when I’m talking to you. Look at your neck. It’s gonna be your neck, your back, you’re done. And then you’re gonna be mine. I’m the champion!” O caught him with a superkick midsentence. He pulled the brace off and stood over Shultz, face down and lights out.

THOUGHTS: A much better show than last week. There’s a lot of energy being put into the booking of this product, and it’s paying off with some really interesting story telling. Thank God for that, because there sure isn’t much in the way of good wrestling. The segment with Will Owens and Boogie was a huge success- totally unexpected and it got the point across about Owens insanity. Owens and Boogie were both very good here. The other good stuff featured Project Prominence. The backstage vignette was terrific. Sawyer was awesome as the instigator. The great thing about it was the timing and the way they played off each other gave it the feel of a real conversation, instead of coming across like bad actors reading scripted lines. It also sparked a subplot that was continued in the contract signing segment – should Shultz trust Lucassio’ Svengali act? The contract signing was by the numbers stuff until that last 60 seconds, which were exceptional. It ended with the perfect image to plant in the minds of the viewers. Shultz consistently performs about the level of the material in a way that makes this show worth watching when little else does. Lucassio had some great lines on color. James did well in trying to maintain some semblance of decorum. Granted, it got excessive, and some of Lucassio’s material misfired, but his brash, arrogant, a-hole nature reminded me of a young AWA era Bobby Heenan…Well, after all the fanfare, he finally arrived. I like Vic the Bruiser OK, but that’s it after all that build up? His delivery was fine, but the t shirt and shorts look was all wrong. They did take the pressure off of Vic’s arrival by doing Valiant’s surprise return on the same show. The injection of veteran talent, hell, any talent to the NWA ME roster can only be a good thing…Kosmo is green and sloppy as hell, but at least he’s enthusiastic. I don’t get what they’re doing with Posey. It’s tough to get a character made out to be a total loser over, unless you’ve got the personality of a Santino Marella…There was little to about the wrestling to hold the viewer’s interest. Not a good match in the bunch, and nothing even close to a main event. The combination of the static hard camera shot and internet VQ are partly to blame. The nuances tend to get lost, and the announcing becomes foreground.