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SHOWTIME ALL-STAR WRESTLING TV REPORT

Showtime All-Star Wrestling – Episode 131 
Airing on April 17, 2010 in Nashville on CW58 
Taped April 2 and April 9, 2010 in Nashville at the Stadium Inn 
 
Reno Riggins and Steve Hall opened from ringside at “the SAW Studio”. Hall revealed Rick Santel had suffered a dislocated knee during his match last week. Reno said putting that and Paul Adams’ legal issues in the equation with the other problems, and the wheels appeared to coming off of the A-Team. 
 
Michael Graham on solo commentary. 
 
1 – ARRICK “The Dragon” ANDREWS vs. BIG BULLY DOUGLAS
 
Andrews shoulder blocks were bouncing off Bully, but he used his quickness to spark a flurry of offense that had the fans on the hard camera side going bonkers. Andrews worked the arm, taking a page out of Kid Kash’s book by biting Bully’s fingers. A double whip reversal led to Andrews charging in and eating stuff. Douglas then ran Andrews’ shoulder into the post. Douglas zeroed in on the shoulder and elbow of Andrews. Douglas went to the dreaded sleeper hold. I wonder if a garden variety sleeper hold has ever won a match for anybody in SAW? Andrews’ jawbreaker left both men on the canvas. Time for the high impact comeback, Andrews’ shoulder block knocked Douglas on his ass this time around. Douglas thumbed Andrews in the eye. Andrews surprised Douglas with a flying crucifix for the pin.  
 
WINNER: Andrews in 7:53 with a flying crucifix. After a promising start, it turned into a pretty average match. I liked the way Andrews had to wear Douglas down for his high impact moves to have an effect. SAW needs to ban the sleeper hold. It's 2010. There's a gazillion submission moves to use at that point in the match. 
 
Hall conducted a ringside interview with Andrews, who said had found a new level of focus during his hiatus and never felt better. Andrews maintained that Kash assaulted him at the Fairgrounds (February 13) because he knew he would lose the title if they wrestled that night. Andrews said 2010 would be the Year of the Dragon. “Take a look in these eyes. You will see it. There’s a fire that’s never been burned before!”  
 
(Commercial break) 
 
Hall called Adams to ringside to address the situation with A-Team. Nasty heat from the crowd and Adams responded in kind. This was not the semi-warm and cuddly Adams from last week’s escapade. He was back to insulting the fat ladies with vengeance. Adams said he didn’t know what would possess Andy Douglas to hug Chase Stevens. “I would rather clean the commode at that fat woman’s house after she ate at the Mexican buffet.” Adams went on to say that David Young hadn’t won a match in six months and was in no condition to wrestle because he was depressed “He’s not sleeping. He hasn’t eaten, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” Hall brought up Adams arrest last week. Adams admitted that he spent a night in jail for the first time in his life and shared a cell with a biker. A joke ensued involving “Ben Dover” and what the biker extended to Adams (not a handshake). Adams said Santel’s robe was defeathered and he was deflowered. Adams said he was never so glad to see Leah Hulan of Grumpy’s Bail Bonds in his life. “I rang. She sprang, and I was outta there.” Adams said he was going to take time off from SAW to recharge his battery. 
 
That brought Riggins out. He brought up how Adams tried to ruin the careers of Andrews and “Boogie Woogie Boy” Gary Valiant by having them arrested at the SAW Mill a couple years back. Riggins said that arrests put him in a bad spot, because SAW had a policy of not employing talent that has a criminal record. “This isn’t The Apprentice. This is SAW and you’re FIRED!” The refs came out and hustled a stunned looking Adams towards the exit.  
 
2 – “Maniac” MARC ANTHONY vs. ERIC HODGE
 
Anthony overwhelmed Hodge before the poor guy even got his jacket off. Anthony blasted him with a lariat, choked the life out of him and hit a wicked Samoan Drop to set up a top rope diving headbutt for the pin.  
 
WINNER: Anthony in 1:45 with a diving headbutt. 100% Squash.  
 
Anthony tossed a chair into the ring. It broke, so he beat on Hodge with the pieces until Tony Falk ushered him out.  
 
Tony Falk did a sitdown interview with Riggins. Tony encouraged the fans to check out their local wrestling to see the stars of tomorrow. He mentioned reffing Steve Austin’s first match and riding the roads in Louisiana with a 19 year old Shawn Michaels. Reno asked Tony about his son, LT. Tony held up a copy of the Nashville Scene with LT on the cover. Falk credited Bill Dundee, Frank Morrell, John Caesar and Reno with helping LT’s career. Tony said it took a village. Somewhere, Hillary Clinton was smiling. Tony said he got carried away last week bring his stick in the ring when Derrick King Enterprises was beating up LT, but this week it would be two on two.  
 
3 – LT FALK & RUDY SWITCHBLADE vs. DERRICK KING & “Teen Excitement” DREW HASKINS
 
Babyfaces in total control early. Falk executed the headlock/headscissors takeover on both members of DKE. King got the worst of chop punch exchange and took a TO. Switchblade showed spider like tendencies, suspending himself in the ropes and then dropping when King charged at him. Haskins reached in and yanked Switchblade down by the hair to shift the advantage to DKE. They picked Switchblade apart. Graham made a faux pas where he said King was more talented than Switchblade when he meant to say experienced. Graham apologized to Rudy and the entire Switchblade family. Imagine going through life with the last name Switchblade. DKE distracted so that the ref didn’t see a legal tag. At one point, Haskins did this wobbly leg deal like Bob Armstrong before making a cover. A DKE miscue saw Haskins punch King, and Switchblade made the hot tag. The place was on fire for LT’s one against two. He hit neckbreaker on King, causing King to DDT Haskins for a great near fall. Haskins kicked out a rolling reverse and the momentum sent LT towards the ropes, where King was waiting on the outside with a concealed chain. 1-2-3.  
 
WINNERS: Derrick King Enterprises in 8:15 when Haskins pinned LT after a chain shot by King. Very entertaining. Great atmosphere. Solid performances.  
 
The Grumpy’s Bail Bonds Bail Jumper of the Week segment was different this time around. It depicted Leah and her associates searching her office/house (apparently one and the same. This lady doesn’t miss a trick) in vain for bail jumper Jordan Donley. Everyone, including her daughter, was holding up mug shots of the guy.  
 
4 – KID KASH vs. LANI KEALOHA
 
Kealoha turned his back to put up his necklace and Kash started beating the living daylights out of him. Kealoha got off a min-explosion of offense. Kash was momentarily stunned. He gave Lani a blatant low blow and slapped on a kneebar. Kealoha tapped. Kash did what comes naturally for a sadist, refusing to break the hold of his own volition. 
. 
WINNER: Kash via submission with a kneebar in 1:06. Kealoha must have thought he had entered the seventh circle of hell.  
 
Afterwards, Kash stomped Kealoha in the nuts. Lani sold it like he was about to puke. Hall tried to interview Kash about losing the SAW International Title. Talk about a sore subject. Kash ordered Hall to remove his ass from his sight. Graham said Kash was not going to hijack the show, and sent it to a commercial break.  
 
Back from commercial, a war of words was in progress between Kash and Riggins. Graham said the mic had been cut off because of the language. Kash attacked Kealoha again. Riggins jumped into the ring to break it up. Kash clocked Riggins and put him in the ankle lock. Riggins was flopping around in agony, until Andrews hit the ring and starting going at with Kash.  
 
THOUGHTS: The tag team match was my favorite part of the show. The homefield advantage slant made it a lot of fun to watch. It was a cool idea that exploited the fervent nature of the fans at the Stadium Inn, and was well executed by all parties. In an odd note, SAW editor Timmy Thompson uploaded it on his youtube site as a USWO Tag Team Title match with Falk and Switchblade winning. The near fall right before the finish was portrayed as a three count. It can be viewed online http://www.youtube.com/krizull#p/u/7/wi9GFFg_wx0]Part 1and http://www.youtube.com/krizull#p/u/8/nUsi0d1NGF8]Part 2. The deal with Kash and Riggins was hard to beat as closing segment to hook viewers into tuning in next week, although losing the audio took it down a notch. It way too juicy of storyline not to go further with it. One thing for sure, Kash's presence definitely upgrades the show. The stuff with Andrews fell short of the mark. The effort was there as far as trying to get him over as a legitimate threat to Kash, but neither his match or the his interview made a believer out of me. They should have waited until he fully caught his breath to do the interview. Anthony is coming on like gangbusters. He has the look and work of a major leaguer. I liked the firing angle in a number of respects. 1) Adams was hilarious. 2) It was a chance to tie a past angle into the present in a logical way 3) It makes no sense for Adams to be on TV when his stable is currently non-existent. Hall is a too huge of a guy to be a ringside interviewer. He's also a step down from Graham or Dan Masters in that role, and I would much rather look at Natalie Van Eron. Speaking of Graham, he does about as well as anyone this side of Joey Styles as solo announcer. This episode made SAW two for two at the Stadium Inn.  
 
Next week, it's back to Buffalo Billiards for the first of three episodes taped prior to the flood.