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SHOWTIME ALL-STAR WRESTLING TV REPORT

Showtime All-Star Wrestling
Airing on October 10, 2009 on CW58 in Nashville
Taped September 18, 2009 at the SAW Mill in Millersville, Tn

This was the go home show that never was. It was scheduled to air October 3. However, due to a snafu at CW58, it didn’t actually air until last Saturday night as the Fairgrounds event was in progress.

NEXT SATURDAY…NASHVILLE FAIRGROUNDS SPORTS ARENA…SAW TAKES IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

Opening with a shot of the beat up sign on the front of the building -- ”Sports Arena” – dissolve to Chase Stevens inside the empty arena. He’s standing at the spot where the ring would be. The footage is black and white.

Here it is. This is where it all started. So many icons have started right here: Hulk Hogan, The Rock, “Macho Man” Randy Savage. And you and I, Andy, right here’s our home.

Stevens reminisced about the first time the Naturals set foot in the building. “This was a sanctuary. This is where people become legends…so much history here.” Stevens said the Natural won the world titles less than two feet from where he was standing. He said the Naturals were the only team to ever defeat the Dudleys in a tables match. Then, a year ago, Douglas turned his back on him.

If Andy wanted to prove he was the better man, we could have had a match to settle it and still been a team…but that’s not what you wanted is it, Andy?...You wanted to humiliate me. You wanted to end my career…Next Saturday, we have a chance to end it once and for all…I will stop at nothing to put an end to this. When that bell rings, I’m going to beat you from one side of the ring to the other. If it goes to the outside, I’ll beat you pillar to post. If I’ve got to drag your dead body up every stair in this building, lift you about my head, and throw you over this 15 foot balcony through a table, I will do it. Because I want to end this. I’m glad it started in this building. I’m glad it’s going to end in this building. Seven days. Comes next Saturday, we’re taking this to a whole new level.

The open montage including scenes from downtown Nashville rolled and then it was right to the first of many rundowns of the Fairgrounds card.

1 – CHASE STEVENS vs. BIG BULLY DOUGLAS

Stevens, who had huge wraps covering his low back and forehead, started selling the back with the first impact. Bully dominated the match with a relentless attack on Stevens’ back. Dead crowd. Graham said they were in a stunned silence. Reno was not so kind, saying they had their weekly dose of Nyquil. Stevens fought up from his knees and decked Bully with a running kick the face, but Bully raked the eyes and switched things up by pounding the bandage off of Stevens’ forehead. (Commercial break) Bully hit a big pumphandle slam for a long two count. The announce team said Bully might have had him if not for the lax cover. Bully applied a camel clutch using repeated seat drops to the low back. Stevens flipped over and Bully’s groin landed on his knee. On the comeback, Stevens busted Bully’s mouth with a double knee chinbuster. Bully tried for the TKO, and Stevens countered with the fisherman suplex for the pin.

WINNER Stevens in 6 minutes. Good match. Bully was sufficiently vicious. Stevens sold his ass off to get the injuries from Douglas over.

Still To Come: Kash vs. Morton for the SAW Title…the bumper was Ricky Morton talking about how he had given his entire life to the business and still loved it.

SAW Top Ten: Kid Kash – SAW International Champion 1) Hammerjack 2) Arrick Andrews 3) Andy Douglas 4) Santel 5) Sean Casey 6) Walker 7) Santel 8) Worthington 9) King 10) Riley.

Graham and Riggins introduced the latest from Worthington with a massive dose of skepticism. Worthington said his actions towards Emerson were so unlike him that he almost couldn’t live with himself. Worthington said he didn’t want to wrestle tonight. “I’ve lost my edge, and I haven’t even eaten in three days, and this guy, there’s no telling what he’s going to do to me...I’m honestly scared, but I have to. I don’t want to lose my job. I’ve got things I have to pay for.”

2 – JON MICHAEL WORTHINGTON vs. JESSE EMERSON

Worthington on the ramp fretting about Emerson’s whereabouts, as Jesse runs in from the lobby and attacks him from behind. A pounding of lumps ensued, until Worthington pulled a can of mace from his ring jacket and sprayed Emerson in the face. Worthington rolled Emerson inside the ring and went right to the Brentwood Breaker (Jackhammer) for the three count.

WINNER: Worthington in 13 seconds.

Grumpy’s Bail Bonds Most Wanted Bail Jumpers made its debut. This was surreal. The spokesperson/owner of Grumpy’s is “Bond Girl” Leah Hulan, a tall blonde with incredibly large breasts, who was Miss Tennessee 1992. “Here’s your chance for action and a reward if YOU have information that leads to the capture of any of my most wanted bail jumpers.” They ran a “tale of the tape” of this week’s featured lowlife, Jesse May. “He jumped bail because he’s a wuss. That’s right. I said it. He’s a wuss.” Call 877-GRUMPYS.

Back with Michael and Reno. Michaels said the SAW Mill was still in stunned silence (it lasted most of the evening) and went to a replay of the mace incident. Reno said Emerson was getting his eyes flushed. Graham said they would have an update on Emerson’s condition later in the hour. Liar, liar.

Roll footage of the wacky adventures of A-Team members David Young, Rick Santel and Paul Adams. This escapade started when Young was in bed “recovering” from Hammerjack’s pildriver. Santel suggested that Young could make it as a male escort, doing proms and such. Young liked the idea, so they headed out to a Nashville nightspot the help him smooth out his game. Along the way, there were jokes about equines and a girl from Hotsylvania. Santel got a phone number from a hot blonde. Young tried to follow Santel’s lead and got a drink to the face and a slap from her friend. Young chalked it up to their lesbian tendencies. Young got hammered and passed out on the bar, while Adams and Santel were off having fun with the females. We were treated to the sight of Adams dancing on the bar shirtless. Security carried Young out and leaned him up against a tree, where he got another drink the face from a passerby.

Flash Flanagan returned for a sit-down interview with a new look. He had his head shaved and his jaw wired shut. Through clenched teeth, Flanagan explained that he got cracked over the head as he was leaving the gym, and the next thing he knew, he was in the hospital with a broken jaw. Flanagan said the doctor told him he was going to be out six weeks. Flanagan found it irony in Rick Santel’s talk of ending Flash’s career. He said it wasn’t the first time he had dealt with this, and brought up the parking lot attack by A-Team on himself and Stevens. Flanagan said that once the doctor cleared him, somebody’s career would be ending, but it wasn’t going to be his.

3 – RICK SANTEL (with Paul Adams) vs. HAMMERJACK

Adams distracted Hammerjack just long enough for Santel to get the advantage. Adams soon brought his trusty towel into play. Hammer answered with a series of clubbing blows, but Santel cut him off with a shoulder blocks to the solar plexus. They brawled back and forth. Santel busted out Nature’s Greatest Elbow for a near fall. They messed up a whip into the rope. Hammer hit a flying clothesline. They each blocked the other guys’ finisher. Hammer hit a sitout powerbomb. Adams distracted the ref again, allowing Andy to sneak in and attempt to hit the Natural Selection on Hammer. Before he could do so, Stevens came to Hammer’s rescue, still clutching at his injured back.

WINNER: No contest at 4:35. Crowd up. An OK brawl. No way they were doing a conclusive finish. It was there to put the final touch on Stevens/Douglas.

The bumper was another snippet from the Morton interview.

We saw Andy basking in serenity next to a pond with a fountain, like you might see at a fancy office park. “Another beautiful day in the life of Andy Douglas,” he said. Douglas referenced the footage of Stevens “moping around the Fairgrounds, remembering all the good times, all the good times because of me I might say.” Andy said he put Chase through a table to end his career at SAW, but he was too stupid to get the point.

After next week’s tables match, the only memories your going to have of the Fairgrounds are going to be sad ones, truly sad. And I’ll be here having another beautiful day in the life of Andy Douglas.

Graham and Riggins talked about Morton challenging Kash. Graham said Morton was an unlikely challenger at the age of 52. Riggins compared his position to that of George Foreman and Evander Holyfield. Cut to the interview Riggins conducted with Morton. Reno apologized for what happened last week. Morton said no apology was necessary. He knew “David Cash” better than anyone, because he was the one that trained him, so he had to take the blame. Morton acknowledged the age factor. “But you see, I might have taught you everything you know, but I didn’t teach you everything Ricky Morton knows…it’s not all what you can do in that ring, it’s what you think up here.” Morton said Kash was barking up the wrong tree if he thought Morton was going to lay down for him.

I never beat Ric Flair but he never beat me. They all went to hour time limits. You don’t think I can hang with you? You’ll see tonight.

4 – SAW International Title Match: Champion KID KASH vs. RICKY MORTON

Kash was in his usual foul mood, Reno made a joke about Kash being from LA (lower Antioch) and said he needed to take a bottle of Mydol. Slow start to the match. Kash threatened to hit Morton with the belt and generally tried to psych him out. (Commercial break) Kash had Morton down in the corner stomping away. Morton spun Kash around and cracked him across the face, really stung him, and Kash sold it huge. Kash backed Morton into the corner and decked him on the break. Kash stomped on Morton. Kash intimidated the ref. Kash started yanking on the left arm. Morton fired back with punches, but Kash took him down into a Fujiwara armbar. Kash released the hold to do more damage to the arm. Morton’s comeback consisted of punches and one high knee lift for old times sake. Moments later, Morton went for a shoulder block in the corner. Kash moved and Morton’s shoulder rammed into the post. Kash applied a straight armbar. Morton fought it a bit before passing out. Graham said Morton was choked out by the shin across the throat. Kash stood over Morton posing with the title belt.

WINNER: Kash retains in 5:45 via submission. An interesting match that worked better live. Morton looks old but he was moving pretty well here. About 1:45 was edited out of the TV version. I was told Morton suffered an injury during the course of the match, resulting in a finish that caught the announcers by surprise, hence the odd call.

CLOSING THOUGHTS: This was an excellent go home show. Tons better than the week before. It’s a shame it didn’t air as scheduled. How much it might have added to the crowd of 700 SAW drew to the Fairgrounds is something we will never know. I wasn’t really feeling it about the Fairgrounds event until I saw the opening segment of this show. It was a beautiful piece of work, quite possibly the best promo Stevens has ever done. But the really impressive thing was how it worked two levels- hyping the Fairgrounds, while also provide an interesting hour of TV wrestling in its own right, centering on the student vs. teacher story in the main event…There was a lot of talking on this show, and it was all good stuff. The Flanagan interview was truly ingenious. He’s not typically a great promo guy, but the shaved head and clenched teeth brought forth an intensity that was like a reinvention of his character. I really liked the Morton interview, because he talked about exploiting his one advantage – experience – in a believable way. Graham added a nice touch by emphasizing that the winner of the match would defend the title at the Fairgrounds. Douglas has been consistently good on promos and he was again here…The A-Team vignette had some funny lines and visuals, although it didn’t seem like a good fit in the context of a go home episode. Grumpy’s, on the other hand, is an absolute classic ad for a TV wrestling show. SAW is worth watching just to see one of these ads. I can’t wait until they catch one of these bail jumpers because a SAW fan turned them in…Except for the main, the wrestling was mainly there to advance angles for the Fairgrounds. Worthington’s character is so despicable and over the top, why not claim amnesia? Bully gave a good accounting of himself. SAW doesn’t have any big brawler heels except Marc Anthony. I was thinking Bully might have earned himself a spot on the roster until Reno’s call in on [url=www.blogtalkradio.com/TVD]the October 12 Jerkin the Curtain[/url], during which he mentioned that Bull Buchanan would be coming in. Lots of entertainment value on this episode. Thumbs up SAW.