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NWA Main Event TV Episode 10 – “Tears to Roses”
Available at nwame.com
Taped on April 22, 2010 at the Community Life Center in Nashville</B>
The Reverend (with his black monster Se7en) informed us that we were watching NWA Main Event.
Aaron Camaro and Jeremy Arnold recapped the outcome of last week’s main event, wherein NWA Mid-America Champion Matt Boyce successfully defended his title against Tommy Mercer after Jeff “The Crippler” Daniels interjected himself into the match.
The first order of business was the debut of the O’Manly Moment. Dan O’Manly was accompanied by his bodyguard Xavier Mustafa. O’Manly said we had not heard the last of his good friend Mike Posey, despite his being abducted and violated by aliens - “albeit briefly, it was very traumatic on him, if you know what I’m saying.” O’Manly said his scheduled guest, Terry Teague got arrested beforehand. He was hoping the cops would wait for his show to do it “but you can’t control those things.” (Teague went out through the crowd in handcuffs. Unfortunately, the cameras were not rolling). O’Manly’s brought out The Reverend and Se7en. It was a set up for another Number of the Beast Challenge. Reverend said the contents of the envelope could make any man’s dreams come true. All he had to do was take Se7en off his feet. Out came Mike Hoodrich. This kid was shot from guns and hungry for a piece of that action. O’Manly said they needed a ref because Rudy Charles wasn’t there. Mustafa flattened Hoodrich with a vicious forearm, which O’Manley and Reverend found extremely funny.
<B>(1) Se7en destroyed Mike Hoodrich in the Number of the Beast Challenge in 1:16.</B> This was how a monster should roll, and a major improvement on Se7en’s prior appearances. Se7en didn’t bother to take his jacket off. Hoodich’s punches bounced off him. He hit a release gorilla press. They cut to the Reverend waving the envelope at Hoodrich. Se7en powebombed Hoodrich into oblivion and pinned him with one foot.
O’Manley crawled over to the lifeless body of Hoodrich. “Now that’s what I call an O’Manly Moment,” he said. O”Manly laughed at his own joke and said it was time to party. The segment closed with Sinatra’s rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon”.
<B>(2) Corey Hollis beat Chrisjen Hayme to retain the NWA Tennessee Junior Championship in 8:05.</B> Hayme attacked before the bell and was beating Hollis to a pulp. Hayme’s striking was wicked stiff, like nothing I’ve seen from him before. Hollis kicked out of a fireman’s carry slam. Hayme hit a release german suplex. Hollis did a full rotation onto his face but kicked out again. Hayme’s frustration level was through the roof. Hollis cracked him across the face with a slap, and Hayme beat him down in the corner. Hayme checked his ear for blood. Hayme blocked a springboard Pele, so Hollis converted it into a tornado DDT. Hollis started nailing Hayme with stiff kicks. Hollis snapped off a huracanrana, but Hayme rocked him with an enzuigiri. Hollis blocked the fireman’s carry slam. Hayme slipped out of the crossface but Hollis got him with a roll up. Hell of a match. The most physically intense eight minutes since Behrens took over. Crowd reaction went from OK to great by the end.
Returning from the break, Will Owens was in the ring with O’Manley. Owens blamed Chad Hyatt for costing him the Mid-America Heavyweight Title and said he wanted him in a Lose Leaves NWA Main Event match. Hyatt hit the ring and said Owens might still be his idol, but he wanted him gone just the same.
<B>(3) Will Owens (with Dan O’Manley) beat Chad Hyatt via DQ in a Loser Leaves NWA ME Match in 9:05. </B> Arnold was running wide open on commentary. Camaro took his best shot at reigning him in, but it’s a tall order when Arnold gets on a roll. Arnold kept referring to Owens as “The Bronco Buster”. He claimed he and O’Manley putted 18 holes with Phil Mickelsen the other day. Camaro brought up Hyatt being subjected to subhuman treatment by Owens. Arnold compared Hyatt to a C.H.U.D. Camaro picked up on it. “…crawled up from the deepest, darkest depths of Detroit sewers”. I can’t say the match was especially good, but they both worked hard and told a good story, and it was no doubt the best Hyatt match I’ve seen. Hyatt overcame Owens chicanery to hit a bulldog for a near fall. Owens then capitalized on O”Manley’s interference to take control. The kids came on strong with the “Barney” chants. Hyatt made the came back to score near fall after near fall on Owens. He hit the Hanging Chad (reverse DDT), but O’Manly kept ref Jesse Fields forever. Hyatt smacked a chair on the mat, tossed it to Hyatt and went down like he had been shot. Fields saw Hyatt with the chair, and he was history in NWA ME. Well, at least for now. Instead of fading to black, editor Andrew Becker faded to purple.
The “stay tuned” bumper was done by the currently MIA Ace Rockwell.
<B>(4) NWA Mid-America TV Champion Matt Boyce & Steve-O beat NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Champion Orion Bishop & Tommy Mercer in 14:34 when Boyce pinned Mercer (for the second week in a row).</B> Jeff Daniels was back on color commentary. What a voice that man has. Does he eat gravel for breakfast? Daniels was putting Mercer over huge and campaigning for a chance to finish the job he started by taking him all the way to the top. Camaro brought up the way Daniels helping Boyce beat Mercer last week. Daniels called it strategy. I love this crowd. They were on fire throughout the match. Typical match structure with the babyface team in control early, except Bishop and Mercer would only sell stuff that was delivered with authority. Bishop fought off a drop toe hold. Mercer shrugged off a weak dropkick from O and it took a double dropkick to put him down. The heels got ticked about the occasional uninvited tag. Mercer pulled the ropes down to spill O over the top. Instead, O ended up teetering on the brink, and Bishop alertly finished the job with a lariat. I don’t know if O was injured taking the bump or what, but he spent the body of the match selling like a dead man; no hope spots and minimal attempts to go for a tag. Boyce made several saves. O did escape the wrath of Bishops’s Collateral Damage and F5 variation. Bishop used the Jersey Cloverleaf. O broke the hold, hit a chestcracker and hot-tagged Boyce. Mercer had Boyce and O in a double goozle. They escaped and hit a double bulldog on Mercer. Bishop charged at them. Boyce and O stepped aside allowing Bishop to spear Mercer, and Boyce swooped in for the pin. The crowd went nuts. Daniels couldn’t believe his eyes.
It got heated between Bishop and Mercer, so Daniels jumped in to play peacemaker. Bishop departed in a discontented state. Daniels and Mercer argued. Daniels stuck his finger in Mercer’s chest. Mercer shoved Daniels. Daniels slapped him. Mercer blocked a second slap and decked Daniels with a discus forearm. Mercer left. When Daniels finally came to, he had a crazy smile on his face.
THOUGHTS: Whether this was better than the previous episode would be splitting hairs. I can say that I was enjoyed every segment…NWA ME has neither the depth or the size of the roster Bill Behrens had to work with at NWA Wildside and NWA Anarchy. It was both a blessing and a curse, and it’s interesting to see the adjustments he’s made by necessity in Nashville. NWA ME basically features the same dozen or so guys on every episode of late, and to good effect because he’s cultivated the right mix of young talent and key veterans (Owens and Daniels). Behrens is on the record as stating that the big companies are too talky, and that he was believer in telling stories on the ring. He’s practicing what he preaches with his booking of NWA ME. The storyline advancements in this episode came inside the ring. A critical element in making that approach work, of course, is having the inring talent to pull it off. Witness the main event. Mercer has the natural attributes that WWE covets, but it would be a crying shame if the majors overlook a talent like Bishop, just because he doesn’t have the cookie cutter look. Hayme and Hollis came through with one of the best matches ever on NWA ME. Seven (under the Reverend’s tutelage) had his best match thus far. I’m digging the O’Manly (Charles) character. He’s got he requisite evil, sadistic atrtibutes of a great heel. The surreal pairing of Reverend and O’Manley was entertaining in the zany mode of NWA ME at it best. Camaro and Arnold make for an unconventional pairing of broadcast partners. They may be rough around the edges, but they have a knack for the unexpected. Thumbs up.
