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Attendance at the NWA Arena has been up for the February tapings, both coming in at around 130. There were more kids in the crowd last night.
It was a productive evening on the whole. All of the segments involving the major players came off well. A tag match featuring an unlikely babyfaces duo produced the best in ring action. A member of the TNA talent roster made a surprise appearance. They set up a huge showdown match for next taping, the kind that might actually get more people into the building.
There were a few issues. The show ran three hours and had an excess of content for a regular TV taping. That’s OK once in a while, but a steady diet will makes it more difficult for fans to stay hungry for the big show. The first hour had two babyface vs. babyface matches. The Cornelians have a low tolerance for such things and it showed.
NWA Anarchy owner Jerry Palmer announced that Anarchy would be running a dark match at each taping to showcase talent “on the edge†of making TV with a 7:55ish starting time. To juice things up a bit, Palmer said the winners of tonight’s match would face The Entourage later in the evening for a spot in a #1 Contenders Four Way Dance.
(1) The Ambassadors (Jacoby Boykins & Marcus Howard) defeated Aaron Lee & Chris Mayne in 7:33 to earn a shot at a spot in the #1 Contenders Four Way Dance. The thing Ambassadors have going for them is heavyweight pro wrestler size. Howard had healthy run with NWA Wildside as Sweet Dreams. He’s shed major poundage and looks positively svelte compared to his Wildside days. Boykins, a regular at APW, was the standout here with some impressive power moves. Lee has no size, bad hair, and a bad body, but the dude sells his ass off. Boykins pinned Mayne after Ambassadors executed a wicked looking double team blockbuster.
A video update segment featuring Kareem Abdul Jamar made its debut. Jamar recapped the highlights of the February 6 show featuring awesome stills photographed by [url=www.shotsbycassie.com]Cassie Wright[/url]. A nice gimmick here was the 3 Pointer – a fine way to drive home the three key happenings from the previous show.
(2) B. J. Hancock beat Adryan Hawkins to win the NWA Anarchy Young Lion’s Title in 6:54. The Young Lion’s title is officially shot to hell. This was babyface vs. babyface, except Anarchy fans don’t give a hoot about Hancock. Hawkins got a good pop. The work was generally solid. Hawkins hit his springboard back elbow right on the money. One really bad spot where Hawkins went for a flying bulldog that was a complete whiff. Hancock sold it anyway, and it may look OK on the hard camera. Hancock fought off Extreme Makeover and pinned Hawkins with a power slam. It got zero reaction.
(3) Truitt Fields & Ace Rockwell beat Brodie Ray Chase & Seth Delay in 11:53. The champions, Talent & Money came out to watch carrying their shiny, new silver belts. Drew Pendleton must have raided John Travolta’s closet from his Saturday Night Fever days. Delay was a bumping machine. He sold an elbow drop flopping around like a fish out of water. At one point he admonished a mouthy youngster with “I’m getting tired of your lip, little girl.†Chase hit a wind up backbreaker to get heat on Fields. But Fields blocked the Kool Krusher by Delay and made the hot tag. Chase made a blind tag. The heels argued and got nailed by a double plancha. Delay used the brass knucks on Rockwell. While the ref was busy chasing Delay out, Fields dragged Rockwell into the corner, so it looked like they had tagged. Fields then pinned Chase with the Killing Fields. Fun match.
On the WrestleVision, Ambassadors said they were getting the opportunity of a lifetime. NWA Anarchy Television Champion Caprice Coleman entered and said he was the best on TV. Phil Shatter corrected Coleman, saying being the NWA National Heavyweight Champion made him the best on TV. Coleman said Shatter only defended every 30 days, while he had to defend every two weeks. Coleman intimated that Shatter was afraid to put the title up against Aiden Chambers, because it might end like his match with Steven Walters last time (loss via count out).
(4) Don Matthews beat Strykynyn in 3:21. Ruthless aggression from Matthews, who facially looks more like Stan Hansen than ever. His listed weight is 265. Needless to say, it’s not distributed like Hansen in his prime. Matthews hit the BFK and followed with a trio of elbow drops for a near fall. Matthews was landing stiff blows in safe places. Matthews hit a swank capture suplex to set up his Lariat from Hell.
Slim J congratulated Bo Newsome on being the other top contender named for the three way Young Lion’s Championship match at Hardcore Hell. Slim said he had set up a test for them against one of Anarchy’s best tag teams ever. New Wave’s music hit the PA.
(5) New Wave (Steven Walters & Derrick Driver) beat Bo Newsome & Slim J in 8:18. Good action but no heat. Fans like any of them take an extended beating. J and Bo were off to a fast start against the former champions, until Walters hit a flapjack style hotshot on Bo that almost sent him out of the ring. New Wave got heat on Bo. Driver used to be a skinny kid. Not anymore. The guy has a physique on him. Driver’s tweaked his knee on and up and over move. It looked legit. Both men tagged. J hit a bridging northern lights suplex on Walters for a near fall. Bo made an uninvited tag, promptly missed with a frogsplash and got rolled up by Walters. Instead of a tongue lashing, J opted to give Newsome some fatherly coaching.
(6) Phil Shatter (with Jeff G. Bailey) beat Aiden Chambers to retain the NWA National Title in 8:59. Good match. Beforehand, Shatter said he was soon to be greatest in the world (see NOTES below) and from now on, he would be putting the National title up every time. Chambers tried to throw Shatter off his game by taking his feet out before the bell. Crowd got behind Chambers bigtime. Shatter got fed up with the shenanigans and manhandled Chambers into a variant of Snake Eyes. Shatter was destroying Chambers with one power move after another, but Chambers was game, and the crowd never quit on him. Chambers put Shatter down with a flying thrust kick. They traded from their knees. A battle of suplex attempts ended with Chambers scoring a near fall with an inside cradle. Shatter had Chambers set up for the PTSD when Kimo’s music played. Shatter dropped what he was doing and waited. And waited. Chambers caught him with a rolling reverse. Shatter spinebustered the hell out him and hit the PTSD for the three.
Kimo hit the ring. Shatter tried for the PTSD but Kimo got him in the Oriental nerve hold. But before he could strike the death blow, Kimo was attacked by Jesse Neal. WTF? They left Kimo laying to end hour number one.
(7) Entourage (Andrew Alexander & Mike Mosley with Mr. Black) defeated Ambassadors (Jacoby Boykins & Marcus Howard) in 11:52 to earn a spot in the Contenders Four Way Dance. A good idea went a little sour here. 12 minutes was overexposure for Ambassadors. Talent & Money watched from the ramp. It was another display of power moves by Boykins early on. But he made the rookie mistake of chasing Alexander and got clipped by Mosley. Bit of “Coby†chant here. Alexander applied a trailer hitch submission to work the knee. Alexander knocked Howard off the apron to prevent a tag. That Alexander is one sly dog. Howard finally got a chance to clean house. Ambassadors hit a leg drop/splash combo, but the Mr. Black factor came into play with some well-time interference. Mosley pinned Howard with Midsummer’s Night Scream.
Bailey came out with Neal and cut a promo portraying him as a superior fighter to Kimo. Bailey said he had handpicked Neal to finish Kimo. Bailey said Neal had military training equal to Kimo’s –techniques such that Bailey said he would have to kill us if he told us – and was also a trained pro wrestler via Team 3D.
(8) Kimo beat Jesse Neal (with Jeff G. Bailey) via DQ when Shatter interfered at 11:25. Neal did OK, but he’s very green. Nice Mohawk but he comes across as a pretty harmless character. It’s beyond comprehension that Neal is wrestling on TV and Kimo is not. After a couple of early time outs by Neal, Kimo opened up with martial arts thrusts. Kimo then had Bailey collared, when Neal got him from behind and sent him into the post. The crowd started chanting for Kimo and never let up. They traded solid forearms. Kimo countered a superplex with a headbutt that knock Neal off his perch. Kimo hit a stiff running kick to the face and comeback was on. Major eye rake by Neal and a facebuster, but Kimo kicked out. Neal tried to use a chair, but ref Ken Wallace took it away. Kimo had Neal by his Mohawk and was about to deliver the death blow. Neal ducked and speared him. Neal missed a top rope headbutt. Kimo locked in the Information Extractor and was attacked by Shatter. Kimo made his own save.
Palmer came out and said this situation was getting dangerous. Therefore, he was ordering a steel cage match for March 6 AND the NWA National Title would be on the line.
(9) Caprice Coleman beat Jeremy Vain (with Orion Bishop) via DQ to retain the NWA Anarchy TV Title in 4:58. For crowd response, Coleman is behind only Kimo on the babyface side. Vain was at his chickenshit best. He popped the crowd with his face bump on Coleman’s drop toe hold. Vain said he wanted to box. That didn’t work out so well. Vain decided to try wrestling. Not. Bishop tripped up Coleman and then started beating him up at ringside. Ref Brent Wiley saw it and called for the bell. Vain and Bishop tried to double up on Coleman, but he jetted to ringside.
Coleman said he just about knew that was going to happen and invited anyone in the back to be his partner. Out came Tank.
(10) Jeremy Vain & Orion Bishop beat Caprice Coleman & Tank in 8:45. Best match of the night. Talk about an odd couple. The visual of Coleman and Tank as partners was more than a little disturbing. In the opening minute, Coleman executed a picture perfect standing dropkick. It don’t get no better. Tank brutalized Vain – turned him inside out with a lariat, then hung him in the tree of woe and punched him in the nuts. Bishop and Coleman did a great see saw powerbomb-huracanrana spot. Coleman got the rana. Bishop put his power game on display. Coleman hit a inverted version of That’s Life for the double down. Very cool. Tag to Tank. The two monsters went at it. Bishop flew out of the ring when Tank stepped aside. Bishop destroyed Coleman. Meanwhile, Tank had Vain in position for the Chokebreaker, but Bishop speared him for the pin.
Post-match, Tempers attacked Tank and laid him out with the hangman neckbreaker.
(11) Shadow Jackson defeated Skirra Corvus to retain the NWA Anarchy Heavyweight Title in 6:24.Jackson opened with two slams and a sitout double fist drop. Corvus bailed as the “Shadowmania†chant kicked in. Corvus caught Jackson in the bat choke. Really took the wind out of Shadow’s sails. A malevolent managerial type with a cane (Wicked Nemesis in GCW) briefly came out to observe. In addition to his usual offensive arsenal, Corvus busted out Poetry in Motion. Jackson made a comeback but ref Dee Byers stepped in to halt the use of closed fists. Brave soul that Dee. After Corvus hit a top rope neck snap for a near fall, Jackson started to Hulk up. Stunner. 1031. 1-2-3. A decent enough match. Definitely a less is more situation.
Mikael Judas came out and stood toe-to-toe with Jackson. He said he had no fear and presented Jackson with the signed contract for Hardcore Hell.
NOTES: Workers and fans alike were raving about the match Shatter and Walters had at the February 6 show…Bill Behrens left just as the show was getting started. Going forward, Behrens still be involved in helping with the television but generally will not be present during the tapings...Shatter gets a shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Title on March 14 in Charlotte at the NWA New Beginnings in a three way vs. Champion Blue Demon and Adam Pearce…Cassie Wright’s photos are incredible. I’ll post a link to her Anarcy stuff at [url=gwhforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=news]Georgia Wrestling History[/url] ASAP.
