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SHOWTIME ALL STAR WRESTLING TV REPORT

Last week SAW…Arrick Andrews put Shane Williams out with the dragon sleeper and woke him up old school style…Afterwards, Williams believes he’s the King of Memphis and will be in the Mid South Coliseum Monday night…Vordell Walker defeated Christian Jacobs with the cane introduced into the match by Derrick King Enterprises. Walker then battled all three members of DKE until J-Rod stepped up to help.

Reno Riggins opened solo this week with the news that Walker & J-Rod would get a shot at DKE and the SAW Tag Team Championship in today’s main event. He also promised more BIG news later in the hour.

Phil Shatter makes his way toward the ring with the warmth and presence of a mass murderer. Dan Masters joins Riggins on commentary. “They (WWE) booted him out of the locker room because he was dangerous, violent, too hot for TV.”

1 – PHIL SHATTER vs. CODY MELTON

Shatter was bent on destroying Melton right from the opening bell. Melton backed him up with a pair of dropkicks and tried a high crossbody. Shatter turned it into a fallaway slam for a two count. Reno said maybe kicking out wasn’t the best thing to do. The savagery continued. After about the fourth vicious back elbow in the corner, Melton looked done for. Shatter stopped to play to the crowd, allowing Melton to briefly escape the inevitable. Shatter used a Polish hammer to the face to set up the PTSD powerbomb.

Winner: Shatter in 3 minutes. A convincing squash.

Cut to Shatter in the locker room. He had head that SAW International Champion Chase Stevens was impressed with him. “Join the club. Don’t be impressed though, Chase. Be scared that I’m the man that’s going to take everything that you’ve ever wanted and you’ve ever had. Right here, it’s all mine. Your fate, you’re looking at it.”

The first of many ads for the 2nd annual Dog of Nashville Sausage Festival with free SAW wrestling. Photos of the event are up at sawonline.tv.

Riggins announced that in three weeks on SAW, it would be Stevens vs. Mercer for the title. He pitched it to footage of Stevens recorded earlier in the week.

“The target’s on my chest. Blood’s in the water. The sharks are circling.” Stevens repeated his offer to face Shatter anytime, anyplace and moved on to Mercer, saying he had watched him run through everyone since his arrival in SAW. “In three weeks, you get to find out that being Chase Stevens is a lifestyle.”

Leah “The Bond Girl” Hulan with a Grumpy’s update on the capture of most wanted bail jumper Charles Steven Jones. She was joined by agents Kendra Anderson (is it just me, or has she added a degree of hotness since she first appeared on these segments?) and Hope Redden. It seems Hope recognized this poor fool on one of her visits to jail and put the smackdown on him.

2 – “No Mercy” TOMMY MERCER vs. INSANE D

Insane D looked just like ROH announcer Dave Prazak. About the same size, too. Mercer decimated the guy. Masters said the EMTs were standing by. D finally threw a dropkick that Mercer shrugged off and flew off the top. Mercer caught him and hit the Mercy Kill.

Winner: Mercer in 2:23. See match #1.

Afterwards, Mercer gave D two more Mercy Kills. Reno said Mercer would be a marquee name in pro wrestling for a long time to come. “Somebody grab a spatula and get this guy out of the ring,” Reno said. The refs pulled D out and carted him to the back.

Mercer in the locker room -- “Yeah, there’s a lot of talk about who’s here, who’s after that title, you know, a lot of big names, Phil Shatter being one of those. You know what Shatter? Like they say, the two biggest dogs in the yard, they gotta meet. If I’ve got to go through you to get that belt, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

Riggins made the big announcements. SAW would be moving from 8pm to 9pm on CW58 starting October 9. The October 9 event in Gallatin has been moved to Freddie Morton’s Auction House in Columbia. Tickets available at the newly revamped website - sawonline.tv AND the stars of SAW would be in Pulaski, Tn every Friday night in cooperation with Randy Whitehead’s RTW.

7 Weeks Ago On SAW…Ryan Genesis issued a challenge to Picture Perfect and got his ass beaten to a pulp by Worthington and Jacobs.

Last Week on SAW…the locker room interview where Worthington blew off Genesis’ comeback. Worthington said he was the one doing real rehab and claimed the shoulder injury was spreading to his knee (hence the cane).

Cut to Genesis. He heard the two women were out there running their mouths about having bigger things to worry about than him. “Well I’m here to tell you, the ONLY thing you should be worrying about is Ryan Genesis, because I’m on my way back to SAW.”

Leah was back with Grumpy’s Most Wanted Bail Jumper Daniel Dwight Stewart. She couldn’t believe this wimp was running on a public intoxication charge. “All you have to do is go to court, pay a fine and you’re done.”

3 – SAW Tag Team Title Match: Champions Derrick King Enterprises (Derrick King & Drew Haskins with Johnny Bandana) vs. VORDELL WALKER & J-ROD

Slow start with DKE playing games. J-Rod reeled off a series of dropkicks including one for Bandana that never reached its target. Bandana sold it anyway, and the flurry brought the crowd into the match. Walker went to town on Haskins. He was lighting him up with strikes. When Walker landed a knee to the head, Reno said Flash Flanagan once knocked him out that way. With Bandana providing the distraction, King kneed Walker in the back and Haskins followed with an Edge-o-matic. King worked on Walker’s taped hand. Masters said the injury had only gotten worse since he punched that locker three weeks ago. DKE tossed Walker out a couple of times and did some skullduggery on the floor. Riggins put Haskins over like crazy, stating that he was only 19 and wrestling like an 8 year vet and was on the radar of all the major wrestling organizations. Back from commercial break with the crowd hot for a Walker comeback. Walker popped them with a double clothesline that left all three men down. Hot tag made and J-Rod was a house of fire. Haskins grabbed J-Rod’s leg allowing King to nail him from behind. J-Rod took heat. DKE cut the ring in half. Bandana was up to no good with his bandana. Haskins and J-Rod exchanged some pretty awesome slaps here. Masters suggested that the missing members of DKE (including Big Dolla and JT Stahr) might be lurking in the back. He also asked what was up with Wolfie D, like he does every week. J-Rod made two tags that ref Joe Williams failed to see due to DKE distraction. J-Rod gave Haskins a backdrop that sent him into orbit and made the tag. DKE bumped like mad. Picture Perfect showed up at ringside with the cane. While Jacobs distracted the ref, Worthington tossed the cane in, except it sailed over the King’s head into Walker’s hands. King and Worthington looked at each other. Walker clocked King with the cane. Williams counted 1…”We gotta go that’s it!”

Winner: Television time expired at 16:30. Tune in next week to find out the winner. Good match. Good heat. J-Rod’s early offense gave him some much needed credibility with the crowd, since he had done two quick jobs in previous matches. The camera crew failed to get a good shot of the key moment – Worthington tossing the cane to Walker and King’s reaction.

Afterthoughts: Much like the first episode of the four shot in Algood, this show was dedicated to setting the table for the future - the immediate future in the case of the tag team title match. It’s been a good while since SAW did one of those cliffhanger endings, and that’s a good thing, because it’s another one of those devices that’s effective when used sparingly. The finish was a breath of fresh air on stagnant tag team title situation – the new babyface team was one second away from the title and the two heel teams are having issues. The shenigans with Worthington and the cane was the extent of the frivolity on this show. The promos were all deadly serious and to the point. The growing tensions surrounding the International title is good stuff. Stevens has two serious challengers making no bones about the fact that they’re coming straight at him and the title. Mercer’s talk about a clash with Shatter further emphasized the prime importance of the title. I do wonder about calling it the International title at this point, though. Discussion of make-believe title defenses on foreign soil has been dropped since Kash lost the belt. A few comments on the series of episodes taped in Algood - the venue did not work well for TV. There were way too many shots of empty seats. Obviously, a larger crowd would have helped, as would proper attention to the background of the shots with the handheld camera. Those issues could be minimized (at a cost) with lighting on the ring in buildings like Algood and Cookeville. SAW is currently doing the best job they’ve ever done in using the TV show to promote live events. It’s still basically a TV product, but it’s a start. The new sawonline.tv also marks the first time the company has had a website worth mentioning on the TV show. I also thought it was the best work Riggins has done on commentary in a while. He highlighted the angles, put the talent over and was colorful without excessive hyperbole (except for the comments about the packed house). He also meshed pretty well with Masters. It is a different sort of team because the color and play-by-play duties are blurred; and Reno is one steering things much of the time. Masters’ references to his friendship with Walker were curious. If they’re leading somewhere, Riggins sure didn’t pick up on them.