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SHOWTIME ALL STAR WRESTLING TV REPORT

Showtime All-Star Wrestling
Airing November 21, 2009 in Nashville on CW58
Taped October 30, 2009 at the SAW Mill in Millersville, Tn

Michael Graham and Reno Riggins opened from ringside at the SAW Mill with the fog machine in full effect. Coming up today - Vordell Walker & LT Falk, bum shoulder and all, were scheduled for a tag team title rematch against Derrick King Enterprises.

They were joined by a kendo stick carrying Flash Flanagan, who said it felt good when he got himself disqualified against Rick Santel the last time. Flanagan explained that he had finished up his commitments in Puerto Rico, so he could stick around at SAW. “All I want is Rick Santel and the rest of the A-Team.” Flanagan demanded a match with Santel.

Paul Adams appeared on the ramp. Adams said he had known Flanagan for a long time, used to manage him in fact, and he was never the brightest bulb in the batch. Adams said Santel wasn’t even in the building. Flanagan suggested David Young. Adams told Flanagan to get the wax out, because Young was scheduled against Micah Taylor. Flanagan said what about Andy Douglas? Adams said Flanagan wasn’t in the same league. That brought Douglas out. He said Flanagan had quite a reputation with barbed wire, bats, and sticks, but this was professional wrestling and he was a PRO-fessional wrestler. Douglas said he understood that Flanagan had beaten Santel a few times “but that doesn’t mean you can hang with me, kid.” Douglas told Adams he was taking the match. Reno said he would make it happen.

…And SAW starts NOW!

1 – “Problem Solver” DAVID YOUNG (with Paul Adams) vs. MICAH TAYLOR

On commentary, Graham and Riggins talked about how each man had cost the other a victory in recent weeks. Young ran his mouth and pimp slapped Taylor. Taylor returned the favor. Intense lock up. Young cheated on the break. Taylor scored bang-bang near falls with a reverse roll up and a springboard crossbody, and it was timeout Young. Reno said the egos in A-Team were a powder keg, and compared Adams predicament to that of Joe Torre with the Yankees. Taylor was doing nasty things to Young’s arm. On the break, Young stunned Taylor with a shoulder block. Young went after Taylor’s supply. Taylor tried for a springboard, and Young dropkicked the middle rope for a cool cut off spot. Adams started messing with Taylor. Young catapulted Taylor’s throat into the bottom rope for a one count. Young thought he had knocked Taylor to the floor, but Taylor hung onto the ropes and caught Young by surprise (similar to his Fairgrounds match with Santel). Taylor got two with a high back body drop. Young rolled through on Taylor’s crossbody block for a close near fall. Taylor fought off Young’s superplex and hit a top rope leg lariat for a clean three count.

WINNER: Taylor in 8:40. It was fine. Hard to imagine these two not having a solid match.

A Q & A with Hammerjack was next. Just two question – both posed by simple full screen graphics rather than an interviewer. The first asked how Hammer’s daughter was doing. Hammer said he appreciated the concern expressed by the office and the fans. She was out of harms way and doing fine. He said his daughter was the inspiration for the changes he had made over the last 8-10 months. Hammer said it was perverse and disturbing for Raven (the camera man?) and Marc Anthony to follow them to the park (the awesome dragon park vignette on eps 112). Question two asked how he was feeling physically after the attack by Anthony at the Fairgrounds. Hammer admitted he was beaten up so badly that he ended up in the hospital, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the pain of knowing he put his daughter in harms way. Hammer said he loved everything about being pro wrestler and felt privileged to be part of the sport. Hammer said people might think he was backing down, letting evil win, but he had no choice. Being in pro wrestling had put his daughter at risk, so he had to walk away from something he loved to protect the one he loved.

Brandy Malone was in the locker room with Falk and Walker. Falk said he still wasn’t at full capacity, but he was all in for the match. Walker said while he respected the heart and enthusiasm, Falk was only 21 years old, so he should be taking the long view. Walker said he had a suitable replacement. “He’s not LT Falk by no means, but he’s definitely got my back.” Falk said Walker wouldn’t steer him wrong. Falk admitted the injury was serious and he would rather be safe than sorry, so he agreed to stay in the back and watch on the monitor.

Walker went to ringside with Dan Masters and called out his partner….Wolfie D.

2 – SAW Tag Team Title Match: DERRICK KING ENTERPRISES (Derrick King & JT Stahr with Drew Haskins & Sista O’Feelyah) vs. VORDELL WALKER & WOLFIE D

As the match got underway, the commentary lingered over Hammerjack’s retirement announcement. Wolfie outwrestled and outfoxed King, who raked the eyes and tagged. Wolfie greeted Stahr with a clothesline. Wolfie and Stahr collaborated on a ridiculous electric boogie spot. Walker and Wolfie hit a Russian legsweep/dropkick combo for a near fall. Walker started lighting up JT’s chest. They cut to Falk watching on the monitor. Walker got near falls with a standing moonsault and a hanging vertical suplex. King reached in and tripped Wolfie up. Wolfie avoided Stahr’s elbow drop but didn’t see King’s tag, and DKE nailed him with a classic Rock ‘n Roll Express double dropkick. King was channeling Jerry Lawler with his punches. (commercial break) Stahr busted out his running man dance before dropping a knee to Wolfie’s temple. Graham to Reno: “I’ve got to see your worm some day, but I don’t mean that like it sounds.” As Wolfie was taking heat, they again cut to Falk. Out of nowhere, Big Dolla grabbed Falk by the throat and beat the daylights out of him. Back in the ring, King hit a textbook DDT, and Wolfie kicked out of his lackadaisical cover. Reno was nervous about the presence of Dolla. Wolfie ducked a tandem clothesline from DKE and planted them with a double bulldog. Hot tag to Walker. Overhead belly to belly suplex on King with Stahr breaking up the pin. 4 way action. Walker hit the STO on King. 1..2..and Dolla is all over Walker for the DQ.

WINNERS: Walker & Wolfie via DQ at 8:50. Lots of fun stuff in this match. Wolfie’s offense was crisp and entertaining. King was his usual great self. O’Feelyah was looking hot.

Postmatch: DKE were laying a 3 on 1 beatdown on Walker, until Wolfie reentered with his hubcap. He bashed Stahr and King with the hubcap. Dolla slid out. Wolfie and Dolla glared at each other.

It was time for Leah “The Bond Girl” Hulan with Grumpy’s Bail Bonds Most Bail Jumpers. This week’s featured scum bag was Ronald Turner – lives in various campgrounds, drives an 88 Ford Ranger and looks like a bonafide ax murderer.

3 – ANDY DOUGLAS (with Paul Adams) vs. FLASH FLANAGAN

Flash came out brandishing the kendo stick. Douglas wanted no part of that action. He griped about the illegal weapon from the safety of ringside. Right from the opening bell, Flanagan showed no regard for the rules. Douglas took an early time out and ordered Adams to towel off his back. A bank of ring lights went out for the first of several times during the match. After taking a flying clothesline, Douglas offered a handshake from his knees. No dice. Flanagan was drilling Douglas with punches no end. Douglas used the tights to send Flanagan head first into the turnbuckle. Flanagan started after Adams and got leveled by Douglas. Coming out of the commercial break, Douglas was choking the life out of Flanagan. Flash mounted a comeback, hitting a middle rope guillotine leg drop for a long two count. Flanagan rammed the post on a missed spear. Adams tossed the kendo stick to Douglas. He swung for the fences. Flanagan ducked. Superkick by Flanagan. He got the stick. A tug of war with ref Joe Williams ensued. Douglas caused Williams and Flanagan to collide. Adams got up on the apron with an XL bag of powder. He missed Flanagan and the powder got Douglas full in the face. Roll up for the three. Reno called it a Maalox moment for Adams and company.

WINNER: Flanagan in 6:45. Not much of a match for a main event. They did a great job getting the kendo stick over as a serious weapon, though.

Postmatch, Flanagan started wailing away on the knee of Douglas with the kendo stick. Riggins abandoned his broadcast position and headed into the ring, where a standoff between Flanagan and SAW security was in progress. Flanagan put two security guys down with the kendo stick. Reno got in his face, so Flanagan whacked him on top of the head with the kendo stick. Riggins went down like a ton of bricks. A good 50% of the crowd popped for it. Graham said there would be repercussions.

CLOSING THOUGHTS: This episode was chock full of storyline advancements. I very much liked the handling of dissension within A-Team because they’re taking their time with the story. The seeds were planted a while back with previous botched interference spots. Then, Douglas started talking about SAW being his company, and here he was openly dissing Santel. Ditto with Flash going off the hardcore deep end – the foundation was laid in spades with all the crap A-Team has done to him. In an era where fan are numbed to weapons (thank you, TNA), SAW got the kendo stick over as something to fear…Taylor’s win over Young didn’t mean as much as it should have. Since his arrival in SAW as the A-Team’s hired gun, Young has been generous to a fault as far as putting guys over and making the babyfaces shine. He’s also demonstrated a heretofore hidden flair for clowning. The byproduct is that Young’s value as a dangerous bad ass has been compromised, although I can see the buffoonery aspect playing a role in the unraveling of A-Team down the road…The staging of Big Dolla’s return made good TV. Given the scheduling issues that prevent Dolla from being at SAW on a regular basis, this was about the best possible use of him…The presentation of the Hammerjack interview was a nice change of pace. Hammerjack came across earnest and passionate and all, but it was dismaying to see the retirement card played. Contemplating retirement I can see, but actually speaking the words? Nobody buys anymore. After the endless stream of phony retirements fans have been forced to endure, even the most diehard SAW Mill believers are likely to dismiss it as BS. That said, it will be interesting to see how the creative minds booked their way out of it…The SAW Mill crowd is quite a comedown from the Fairgrounds. I watched this episode on the internet so it was hard to tell, but this group seemed livelier that the DOA crowd at the October 2 taping…Wolfie’s performance was one of the highlights of the hour. He’s a larger than life character, and never fails to entertain. Wolfie and King both bring a heaping helping of the old style Memphis flavor that lies at SAW’s roots…In summary, the wrestling was above average and the good things outweighed the bad in the storytelling.