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SHOWTIME ALL STAR WRESTLING TV REPORT

Showtime All-Star Wrestling
Taped February 13, 2010 in Nashville at Buffalo Billiards
Airing February 20, 2010 in Nashville on CW58

Reno Riggins and Dutch Mantell opened the show from a strangely lit interview area at the Nashville Fairgrounds Sports Arena. Mantell previewed the show, touting three title matches, and mainly hyping the one that wasn’t on this episode, Kid Kash defending the SAW International Title vs. Arrick “The Dragon” Andrews. Reno asked Dutch to put on his Jimmy the Greek glasses and play Vegas oddsmaker. Mantell said he smelled an upset and made 5-4 in favor of Andrews.

Reno brought Andrews out to a great pop. Before Andrew could get a word out, Kash interrupted and confronted Reno.

All I want to do is come out here and talk to the boy, just for a second, so why don’t you take that ugly ass jacket of yours and step back.

Kash told Andrews he already had plenty of chances and he just wasn’t man enough to get the job done. Kash said he had taken the belt around the world and beaten everyone SAW put in front of him. Kash made it crystal clear to Reno, Dutch, and all the people that this was the last time for Andrews. Kash said as a true champion, he had a little word of advice….POW! Kash started beating the holy hell out of Andrews. Arrick started to fire back. They brawled on the concrete floor near the ring. It took five refs and other assorted SAW personnel to separate them. Riggins admonished Kash, who punched Reno right in the face, a wicked looking shot. Kash kept punching and kicking at Reno when he was down, and the refs had to pull him off. They cut to a shot of Commissioner Freddie Morton helping Reno to the back. Hot stuff.

Mantell joined Michael Graham on commentary. Their audio got weird. Very thin and tinny sounding, like a bad land line.

1 – “Grand Master Sexay” BRIAN CHRISTOPHER vs. SIGMON

Christopher teased tossing his do-rag out as a souvenir. Crowd was going nuts for it until Sigmon jumped him. Dutch generously estimated the crowd at 1500. It was a see saw battle. Christopher hit a middle rope missile dropkick. Sigmon got a near fall with a standing dropkick. Christopher roared back with classic Lawler style punches and had Sigmon in big trouble after a running bulldog. Sigmon went to the trusty eye rake. He planted Christopher on the top for a superplex. Not happening. Christopher KOed Sigmon with a haymaker, then donned the goggles for the Hip Hop Drop.

WINNER: Christopher in 4:15. All action. Although not in his best shape, Christopher worked hard and his offense mostly looked good.

2 – CHASE STEVENS vs. DAVID YOUNG (with Paul Adams)

Superstar reaction for Stevens. Mantell hyped the backstage problems between Riggins and Kash. Stevens delivered a shadow lariat that drove Young out of the ring to gather his wits. Adams lured Stevens out of the ring, where Young was laying in wait with a lariat of his own. Young started in on Stevens’ neck. A “go, Chase, go” chant soon followed. Stevens fed off the crowd. Stevens ducked a spinkick, but Young nailed him with a flying roundhouse on the follow through. Sweet. Stevens kicked out of it and busted out a Canadian Destroyer for the pin.

WINNER: Stevens in 3:30. Fine while it lasted. The reaction for Stevens and the finish were all that really mattered, and those elements worked great.

Natalie Van Eron attempted to interview Andrews. He got about four words out before Kash interrupted again. Kash told “Miss Natalie” that she was a credit to her occupation, but like the NFL, he couldn’t stand women in a man’s sport. Andrews got off first this time. They had another intense pull apart brawl with refs and wrestlers out to break it. Crowd wasn’t red hot at the start, but the response built, and they got a “let them fight” chant before it was over. Graham said one them would be the man to hold the championship of THE up and coming wrestling company in the country.

Grumpy’s Bail Bonds Most Wanted Bail Jumpers – “Bond Girl” Leah introduced the tale of the tape for this week’s featured bail jumper, Terry Satterfield. “I’m so disappointed in you, and to think I thought we were friends…”

3 – SAW Tag Team Title Match: Champions DERRICK KING ENTERPRISES (Derrick King & JT Stahr with Drew Haskins and Sista O’Feelyah) vs. PG-13 (Wolfie D & JC Ice)

Graham on solo commentary. Mantell was in the back due to all the chaos. Wolfie stayed a step ahead of JT to the point DKE took a time out to regroup. Back from commercial break with Wolfie in full control of King. Ice cut off Stahr’s interference, but King clubbed him from behind to spill him through the ropes. Stahr then did a number on Ice outside the ring. Ice took a beating from DKE – a classic example of cutting the ring in half. Stahr almost put Ice out with a sleeper. Ice hit a jumping DDT on King and went through the legs to make the hot tag. Wolfie cleaned house. DKE cut off a meeting of the minds, but Wolfie caught them with a double clothesline. Wolfie crashed and burned on a Swanton bomb. King missed a guillotine legdrop. Ice and Stahr both missed top rope elbows, and it was four way carnage. PG-13 nailed Stahr with the sunset flip/haymaker combo that earned them the title shot, but King kicked out. PG-13 stacked up DKE with double bulldogs, but Haskins pulled the ref out. While PG-13 was busy with Haskins and O’Feelyah, DKE grabbed the hubcaps. PG-13 saw them coming and capped their domes for the three count.

WINNER: PG-13 with a double pin at 11:31 to become the new SAW Tag Team Champions. Fun match that got over great with the crowd. Smart to have Wolfie carrying the action for his side.

4 – SAW Women’s Title Match: Champion TRACY TAYLOR vs. SUE YUNG

Mantell returned saying it was a very tense situation in the back. A back and forth chain wrestling sequence ended in a standoff. Crowd wasn’t feeling it much. As Taylor was busy working an armbar, Dutch busied himself putting over women’s wrestling. Yung got pissed and slapped Taylor across the face. With fire in her eyes, Taylor issued a bigtime receipt. Yung used tights to send Taylor crashing into the turnbuckles. Yung resorted to a variety of chokes and hair pulls. Mantell promised to have Hammerjack and Marc Anthony as future guests on “Down and Dirty with Dutch”. Yung was about to slug Taylor in the face when she hit Hawaii 5-0 (aka Chuck Taylor’s Sole Food) out of nowhere.

WINNER: Taylor retained at 3:57 with Hawaii 5-0. Not enough time to develop into anything more than an average match.

5 – HAMMERJACK vs. “Maniac” MARC ANTHONY

Hammer met Anthony in the aisle and they wailed away on each other. Graham questioned if it was an actual match, as very little action took place in the ring. They traded shots into the security rail. Inside the ring, Anthony went down face first after a barrage of punches. Back at ringside, Anthony flung the ringsteps at Hammer, who moved out of the way, and the steps came apart on impact. Anthony punched ref Jess Fields. Hammer decked a second ref. The bell rang. Security ran out. They had a brief pull apart (edited version) that got another “let them fight” chant.

WINNER: Ruled a no contest. For a balls to the wall brawl there was nothing wrong with it. Problem was it couldn’t live up to the lofty standard of their previous donnybrook. The bookers did them no favor by making it the third heavy duty brawling sequence of the hour.

Graham and Mantell were at the announcer’s desk with Graham talking about what a chaotic night it had been. He got word that they needed to throw it to the back where…

Riggins was knocking on the door of Kash’s private dressing room. He told Kash they needed a come to Jesus meeting. “Really? Come to Jesus. The only Jesus you’re going to come to isn’t in this room,” Kash shut the door in Reno’s face. Reno barged in. “Wait a minute, honcho, there’s something that needed to be taken care of around here for a long time.” Reno took off his sport coat and closed the door behind them.

CLOSING THOUGHTS: There were some great things about this episode and some aspects that were severely disappointing.

POSITIVES: The setup for the SAW Title match was highly effective. The camera angles and close ups of the Kash/Andrews pull apart captured the intensity. Reno took a hell of shot from Kash. After referencing the backstage volatility throughout the hour, they paid it off with a closing scene that created intrigue, the kind that brings viewers back for more. The crowd reaction for Stevens intro was a key moment that could not have come off better. The heat was strong throughout this episode. It was the best job SAW has done of capturing the live feel of the Fairgrounds on the audio. The tag title switch was the only match of any real substance, and it was a major success. Wolfie and King were particularly entertaining. The opener worked as a showcase for Christopher.

NEGATIVES: The production problems. It was their first attempt at shooting a live opening at the Fairgrounds, and the lighting was just horrible. Ring announcer Dan Masters’ mic was too hot. The commentary on the first match sounded weird. The audio was out of synch during the tag title match. Stuff like that makes SAW look like anything but the next big thing. SAW was portrayed as a promotion where the stakes were high, and the intensity was at a fever pitch. I got that. But three pull aparts in one hour was way too much of a good thing. The net effect was too badly flattened out Hammerjack vs. Anthony. Their previous encounter was memorable. This was just another brawl. Hopefully, it doesn’t take the edge of what has been a great program so far. For a title match, the women’s match sure wasn’t much. It came across like an excuse to have attractive women on the show, not that there’s anything wrong with that. As much as I enjoyed Dutch’s crusty presence, I expected he would add more flavor to the commentary than he actually did. He surely wasn't overly familiar with the product. There was no mention of the return to the Fairgrounds on March 13, just three weeks from the date this show was broadcast.