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NWA Main Event returned to the friendly confines of 413 Veritas St in Nashville for their biweekly television taping Thursday night.  

A packed house of 150 in attendance, and those people love their NWA Main Event. It was pretty much an ideal vibe for taping television. I had the pleasure (?) of sitting next to Chicken Hat Charles. He was an unhappy camper before the night was over because he to go at 9:30. I guess he had to catch the last bus.  

A number of key members of the crew were not present (see notes), but they’re far enough ahead on TV production that they only needed to get one episode out of the evening. As it is, they have more than enough material to fill an hour.  

Given the available talent, the first half of the show was everything you could have asked in terms of story and execution. There were some issues in the second half, but nothing that isn’t fixable for television purposes. 

The announce team of Aaron Camaro and Jeremy Arnold opened the program from inside the ring. They talked about the return of Mike Posey despite his fear of an alien presence of Nashville. “We seen him run out of here a few weeks ago,” Camaro said.  

The introduction of NWA Tennessee Junior Champion Corey Hollis was greeted by a huge pop. He thanked NWA ME for the opportunity he had been given. 

<B>(1) Damien Payne defeated Chris Cane and “Mr. MMA” Phil Macchio in 4:34.</B> Macchio was obviously a Karate Kid wannabe. Some of their stuff wasn’t connecting all, but it may work  OK on TV. Typical three way scenario with the diminutive Cane getting off to a fast start against the two heels. Payne and Macchio worked together but their alliance quickly disintegrated. Payne pinned Cane after a hammerlock/short arm clothesline that looked pretty cool.  

Afterwards, Payne continued to beat on Cane and the crowd immediately broke into a “we want Tiger” chant. Payne and White Tiger (biological brothers) have been feuding here on the non-TV weeks. Tiger’s save was right on cue.  

<B>(2) Se7en (with “The Rev” Dan Wilson) beat Josh Hendricks in 2:04.</B> This was the quintessential squash match, a gigantic improvement over Se7en’s appearances thus far on Main Event TV. He sold nothing and his power moves looked ultra impressive. It helped that Hendricks was willing to take big bumps. Se7en finished with a mammoth powerbomb.  

The Reverend cut a great postmatch promo on Ace Rockwell. He uses his words to create powerful images. He hoped Ace was watching his 6-6 330 pound monster from his hospital bed. He said Ace insulted them by refusing his managerial services, and he was keeping Se7en hungry for the main course, because Se7en was going to feed until the bones were picked clean and nothing was left. 

<B>(3) Chrisjen Hayme beat Johnny Slaughter in 6:24.</B> Strong workrate match. Slaughter did a great job of putting Hayme over in style. It was more a case of the people hating Hayme than getting behind Slaughter, who is an unknown quantity here and far from a natural babyface in the Nashville sense. Hayme attacked as Slaughter came through the ropes. Slaughter bounced back quickly, though. Hayme punted Slaughter on an up and over and kicked the crap out of him. Hayme worked on Slaughter’s gut. He used a fireman’s carry slam for a near fall. On the comeback, Slaughter got a near fall with a swank variation on a northern lights suplex. Slaughter blocked a second attempt at the fireman’s carry slam, but Hayme got the pin with a pumphandle Samoan Drop. I understand that wasn’t quite how the finisher was supposed to go, but it looked fine.   

<B>(4) White Tiger beat Will Owens (with Dan O’Manly) after distraction by Super Barney in 8:30.</B> This crowd adores Tiger. Incredible pop for his intro. They were in rapture for what amounted to a three minute armbar by “Mr. Paws and Claws”. The match took a 180 turn when Tiger missed the Tiger Splash. Owens was hammering Tiger with thudding blows. Owens got an assist from O”Manly on the abdominal stretch. It’s an awkward spot because it doesn’t appear to add any leverage. Tiger was suffering very loud manner. Nice. Owens avoided the Tiger Pounce. O’Manly was ready to use his cane when some superhero type music hit the PA, and out came Chad Hyatt wearing a spider mask and a leopard skin cape. It was hilarious. Owens went nuts about the fact that he beat Hyatt in a loser leaves town, and Tiger rolled him up. Owens went into crybaby mode. I think you had to be there to appreciate just how entertaining the finish was.    

<B>(5) Corey Hollis beat Mike Posey (with Dan O’Manly) via count out to retain the NWA Tennessee Junior Championship in 14:32.</B> Hollis is way over, not Tiger level over, but impressive nevertheless. O’Manly checked under the ring to make sure there were no aliens lurking about. Another armbar exchange early. A battle on the ropes ended with Posey give Hollis a hotshot to the gut. Posey busted out his slingshot moves and worked the body part. Loud chant for Hollis here. Fans also chanted “Alien” at Posey, so I guess that storyline has really taken hold. After a collision of crossbodys, Hollis started his comeback with stiff round kicks to kidneys. Hollis hit several big moves. He’s inconsistent, and this was one of those nights when his stuff was on the sloppy side. Posey hit a middle rope sitout facebuster that looked good. Hollis got the crossface and when O’Manly went to use the cane, Mikey Winkerbean threw him out. Posey sent Hollis crashing into Winkerbean. Posey applied his variation of the Texas Cloverleaf. A second ref hit the ring wearing a green alien mask. Posey freaked and ran out of the building. The ref counted him out and removed the mask revealing Rudy Charles. Not a smooth match, but the finish worked to perfection. 

<B>(6) Xavier Mustafa & Jeremiah Plunkett beat Rymer Twins (Evan & Kevan) in 4:59.</B> Decent match until the disastrous finish. Rymers are fraternal twins but they look like identicals. They also wear identical gear, making it almost impossible to differentiate them in the ring. They showed crisp execution of their double teams on Plunkett. Kevan (I think) avoided Mustafa’s sitdown el squasho but his monkey flip attempt had no chance against a 300 pounder. Mustafa followed with a Thigh Drop of Doom to start the heat. He also used a Umaga style running hip attack with Kevan hung in the tree of woe. When Evan got the hot tag, he slipped trying to  Mustafa’s back as a springboard and fell flat on his face. But it only got worse. Mustafa was slated to win with a moonsault. It was supposed to be one of those deals where the big fat guy does something you don’t think he can do. Well, this was classic because Mustafa went off all cockeyed and hit nothing but canvas. He couldn’t miss it that badly again if he tried. Time stood still. Mustafa ignored Plunkett’s pleas for a tag and pinned Evan with a kick to the face.       

<B>(7) NWA Mid-America Champion Orion Bishop retained the title via a DQ loss to Adam Jacobs in 10:32.</B> It was OK. I can almost guarantee they will have a better match the next time around. Jacobs was still hurting from a ladder match for Ultimate NWA the previous Saturday. I really like Bishop as heel champion, because he commands respect. No cheap, chicken BS. He’s clearly a tough, no nonsense character like Masked Superstar or Stan Hansen back in the day. Long armbar exchange. It’s armbar city tonight. Bishop dominated the body of the match. He used a Texas cloverleaf variant, a jumping sidewalk slam (ouch) and a sharpshooter. Jacobs got out from under Collateral Damage, and Bishop took his one and only bump of the match. A spot where Jacobs was supposed to leapfrog the spear got messed up. Bishop hit the spear and Jacobs kicked out. Bishop couldn’t believe that Jacobs kicked out of his finisher and took his frustration out on ref Jaime Ferrari for the DQ.  

NOTES: Tommy Mercer, Matt Boyce, Steve-O and Bert Prentice were in Memphis for Jerry Lawler and Company’s television taping. Wrestling is returning to Memphis television with an 11am Saturday am slot…Ace Rockwell canceled. Behrens then cancelled NWA Anarchy TV Champion Seth Delay, who was scheduled to debut versus Rockwell…The next NWA ME TV taping will be on June 3…Mike Sircy was manning the hard camera. Dave Pierce ran the handheld…Jason James stopped by for a visit and lent a helping hand at the concession stand.