SHOWTIME ALL STAR WRESTLING TV TAPING IN COLUMBIA, TN LIVE REPORT
By Larry Goodman on 10/11/2010 7:54 PM
Showtime All-Star Wrestling was in Columbia, TN Saturday night, drawing 140 to their first television taping at Freddie Morton’s Auction House.
Chase Stevens and Tommy Mercer pulled off something special in their match. It was a true old style main event in that it came across distinctly different and more “real” than all the previous matches. The promotion knew one of half of the tag champs, Derrick King wasn’t going to be there, so the tag title storyline was carried forward via two no decision matches between the top contenders. The comedy factor picked up, as the A Team was back in full effect with the addition of Jesse Emerson via a much needed heel turn. Emerson was going nowhere as a babyface, and being a legit lawyer makes him a natural fit. Shane Williams threw one of the best fireballs you would ever want to see. And Ryan Genesis won the iron man award by working four matches.
The Auction House is a somewhat more spacious upgrade from SAW’s original home base in Millersville aka The SAW Mill. It won’t take a big crowd to make it look and sound full for TV. Randy Whitehead’s Real Tennessee Wrestling rents the venue from Morton, who appears on SAW television as their commissioner. In September, SAW started sending talent to RTW to bolster their weekly shows. The TV taping was originally announced for Gallatin and later moved to Columbia in conjunction with RTW. The SAW set from the Fairgrounds looked massive in that small space. The heat was strong early, cooled some in the middle and came back like gangbusters for the main.
Reno Riggins and Dan Masters did a live open for one of the TV episodes.
(1) Arrick Andrews beat Jake Slater in 5:05. Andrews was working a fast pace and it was bombs away on Slater, who turned the tide with a hotshot on the turnbuckles. Slater got a fair amount of offense here. Slater blocked Andrews’ dragon sleeper, but Andrews hit the Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am for the pin.
Shane Williams came out to do a ringside interview and got instant heat. Williams called Dan Masters “banana nose” and launched into his delusional nonsense about blowing through Bob Sweetan and the Von Erichs down in Texas. Williams' gimmick grows more awesome by the week. He called Andrews out. They started going at it. Williams got the drop on Andrews and threw a fireball right into his face. Should look great on TV. The refs and jabronis came out to throw a towel over Andrews’ face. He was doing moaning to beat the bad as they helped him to the back.
(2) Ryan Genesis pinned Bobby Surge in 30 seconds. The “fire breathing son of a bitch” quickly ended it with a sweet Death Valley Driver.
(3) Sexy C beat Antonio Cathey in 2:02. This was an RTW dark match. The girls pop for Cathey’s looks. C pinned him with a superkick.
(4) Picture Perfect (Jon Michael Worthington & Christian Jacobs) vs. Vordell Walker & J-Rod ended as a double count out at 12:02. The babyface team really got to shine in the early going. J-Rod was aggressive and they showed good teamwork. Good stuff to install them as the new babyface contender to replace the departed PG-13. Picture Perfect took over. They also looked impressive with their high impact offense, as they were bludgeoning poor J-Rod to death. Those are two big league sized dudes. Walker and Worthington spilled over the top rope, and while referee Mark Herron was occupied with Jacobs and J-Rod, Derrick King Enterprises (represented by Drew Haskins and Johnny Bandana) ran out and posted Walker and Worthington. Herron counted Worthington and Walker out. None of the participants saw DKE. Clever idea. Problem was Walker was legal and Worthington was not.
(5) Drew Haskins (with Johnny Bandana) beat Norman Cross in 5:28. Haskins came out wearing this ridiculous oversized scarf. Cross’ mouth must have been hurting after this, because Haskins was pulling teeth to get a decent match out of him. Lots of skullduggery by Bandana. Haskins hit a classic gordbuster. Cross used a Vader bomb – an odd choice for a skinny guy. Bandana took a bump. Haskins took a high backdrop. Bandana then snapped Cross’ neck off the ropes and Haskins pinned him by driving his face into the mat with a stunner variant.
(6) Ryan Genesis beat Jake Slater in 1:04. Another quick squash for Genesis, this time with a spinning version of the DVD.
(7) Shane Williams beat Flash Flanagan in 12:30. Flanagan looked in good shape, but suffered a knee injury during the match. It wasn’t clear when it happened. Flanagan lit Williams up with the stiffest, loudest chop of the night. Williams was getting his ass handed to him, until he fouled Flanagan with a donkey kick. Williams had things going his way, but he missed the Lawler fist drop, and it was clothesline city. Herron did another one of his horrible ref bumps. Ref bumps should be banned in any match Herron officiates. Flanagan hit the springboard leg drop. No ref. Flanagan tried a back suplex and Williams clocked him with a chain for the 1-2-3.
It was time for comedy gold. Paul Adams admitted things had not been rosy for A Team, but after only one week of training, David Young had buns of steel such that he was setting off the metal detectors at the airport. Young came out in a blue superhero bodysuit. It was padded to form fake biceps and six pack abs. Given Young’s history of weight issues, this was beyond hilarious.
(8) Ryan Genesis beat David Young (with Paul Adams) in 8:37. Young immediately lost a test of strength. Young seized the advantage after Adams ran distraction. The heat was supplied by Adams getting into it with the fans. There was no shortage of big woman, but for some reason, Adams targeted an obese male this time around. Spying Bonnie Baldwin at ringside, Adams said he hadn’t seen her in four years, and it was the best four years of his life. Young missed a moonsault and Genesis pinned him with a top rope elbow. Young’s facia expression was pure befuddlement.
(9) Picture Perfect (Jon Michael Worthington & Christian Jacobs) vs. Vordell Walker & J-Rod was ruled as a double knockout at 11 minutes. Walker was in most of the way for the babyface side. He was on fire until Picture Perfect started grinding away on him. PP kept cutting off Walker’s hope spots and finally subdued him with a body scissors. Picture Perfect did a fancy double team that did not come out as picture perfect as they hoped. Off the hot tag, J-Rod hit the superman knee and Worthington made the save. Walker and Worthington both tumbled over the top. Herron followed them out. DKE hit the ring and knocked J-Rod and Jacobs out with belt shots then ran away. Herron returned to the ring and ruled it a double knockout.
(10) Nick Iggy & JT Quest & Steven beat Sexy C & Satan & Johnny Gunn in 3:40. Not for TV. The local fans are into the RTW guys, so it had a lot of heat. Iggy looked like Ricky Steamboat compared to the rest of them. Finish saw the babyface trio score a triple pin.
(11) Jesse Emerson beat Ryan Genesis in 5:07. Solid babyface vs. babyface stuff until Rick Santel appeared at ringside with an extremely tall woman – like 6-3 in heels to where she towered over Santel. While the girl distracted the ref, Santel dumped Genesis off the top rope. Emerson didn’t see what happened and pinned Genesis with the Alabama Slam.
Emerson look of confusion soon turned to glee. He hugged Santel and A Team celebrated the new alliance.
(12) Chase Stevens vs. Tommy Mercer ended as a no contest at 17:50. The intensity of this match was several levels above anything that preceded it. It was announced as a title bout in the building, but they didn’t do the belt ritual, so it may not end up that way on TV. Dueling chants throughout and it was all women – Stevens fans on one side and Mercer fans on the other. They set the tone with the initial lock up, and followed it with a spot that sent both men hurtling over the top rope. It looked dangerous as hell. Stevens got tossed out again and sent into the post. Stevens was bleeding. The Mercer women were chanting for a tap out when had Stevens in a cravate. Stevens came back with a snap suplex on the floor. Mercer didn’t sell it much and once back inside the ring, he applied a sleeper. Stevens rallied with a german suplex. Stevens’ offense is looking as sharp these days as it ever has. They went back and forth with near falls. Great stuff. Stevens hit ax kick for near fall. Mercer hit a blockbuster off the middle rope, and Stevens rolled a shoulder just before the three. Stevens brought Mercer off the top turnbuckle with a superhuracanrana, but was slow to cover and Mercer kicked out. Mercer hit a reverse STO. When Stevens kicked out of that, Mercer went for a chair. Stevens dodged two chairshots. Referee Jesse Fields tried to intervene, and Mercer pie-faced him to the mat. Stevens got the chair. Mercer ducked and the shot CRUSHED Fields on top of the head. Just brutal. They battled outside the ring until a brigade or SAW personnel came out to separate them. Great way to end the show. They sent the Columbia fans home with the type of big league match they aren’t used to seeing.SAW was very pleased with the way things went at Morton’s for TV this first time around. The plan going forward is to tape there the second Saturday of every month. In the opening, Masters referred to the building as the new SAW Mill…The Stevens vs. Shatter SAW International Title match, originally announced for October 9, will take place on October 22 at Morton’s, so there will be some taping that night. SAW will also tape on September 23 in conjunction with EWE in Ripley, TN…SAW will continue to supply talent to the weekly RTW shows in Columbia and Pulaski. Stevens vs. Bandana headlines Columbia on October 15…Flanagan blew out his knee in the match with Williams…Santel’s knee has not sufficiently responded to rest and rehabilitation. He’s got an MRI coming up to further clarify the diagnosis with surgery a likely possibility…SAW has capitalized on a perfect storm of random events. The statuesque female (to be named later. Trust me, the name will not be easy to forget) that accompanied Santel to ringside just so happens to be the granddaughter on Len Rossi. The odd thing is that the production guy and ad guy from SAW made her acquaintance, without knowing her relationship with Rossi, much less having any idea who he was…As hard as it is to believe, Young swears he just happened to find the [url=http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1682114&id=1437844534]superhero outfit[/url] hanging somewhere at Morton’s. A moment of collaborative inspiration with Adams led to what followed and there’s more hilarity to come…Likewise, Adams came across the wiener suits modeled by Drew Haskins and Johnny Bandana in the hysterical Sausage Festival footage at Dog of Nashville when he was retrieving gear he left their the year before...Derrick King and Cody Melton were booked for a Bert Prentice event in Metropolis, IL, which they ended up not making due to trans issues…A return by Kid Kash is in the works. The former two time SAW International Champion (the only wrestler to hold the title twice) has unfinished business with SAW owner Reno Riggins…Hammerjack and Marc Anthony are also scheduled to return at unspecified points in the future…There is nothing planned for Wolfie D at this point…Riggins and Dan Masters did live-to-tape commentary. Not the ideal set up, though, as they were limited to watching a monitor in the back…During the opening, Riggins mentioned that he had his first pro match at Morton’s in 1987. He also said SAW TV is available in 40 million homes…The SAW episode that aired on CW58 this past Saturday was done exclusively for Nashville using footage taped in Ripley. It will not air in syndication…SAW talent will be making monthly trips to Texas for the New School Federation events in Texas being run by Genesis. The next one is October 29 at Horny Toad Harley Davidson in Temple, TX featuring Shawn Daivari.
