 |
|||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||
Time again for the Festival of Fireworks by our municipal building, and once again, the NWS was there. This year, the show was kind of divided into three mini-shows across the Friday and Saturday of the fair; each one had 3-4 matches and ran for about an hour a piece. Unlike last year, where they got an entire setup by the baseball field, seats and all, the ring and such were set up amidst the rides and tents on the blacktop, and spectators had to stand around the ring’s barriers. No matter...with the car I share in use, I rode my bike in and this way I was able to just set it against the barricade and stay in front of it. PART I (Sept. 9) As usual, I was armed to the teeth with signs, which was not lost on people from the NWS site, as well as FotoMark’s NWS fansite. Don’t believe me? Check out http://www.nwswrestling.com and ,a href="http://home.comcast.net/~NWSfan/"> http://home.comcast.net/~NWSfan/ respectively. Sign highlights for me included... “Friday Smackdown? Who cares! The action’s in the NWS!” “USA can have Raw...but N.J. loves the NWS!” (the “Saturday” version of the above) “McMahon fears Falco” (can you tell I love cheap shots yet?) “Bundy Knows Best” (you see, it’s Bundy...not Hogan...who “knows best.” Like the TV show, you know?) Johnny Falco, out of his heel manager character, was the emcee and announcer for all the shows. 1) Hasheem “Chemical” Ali and J.T. Highlander (w/Saddam Insane) vs. TNT and “Jersey” Jerry D - My sign in honor for Hasheem this time? “Muhammed Hassan - Good Riddance to Bad Ripoffs!” Have to strike while the iron’s still warm, after all. Saddam got heat by doing an Iron Sheik imitation before the match, he also billed himself as the Sheik’s “nephew” or something. TNT starts out strong against both heels, then tags in Jerry, who keeps it up despite seeming to knock his opponents dangerously close to their corner. Ali eventually got to pummel Jerry in the corner, finishing with a Liger rolling dropkick (!) and then taking over with BRUTAL chops and a big splash...yet he didn’t go for the pin, allowing Highlander to borrow his spot where he prays to Allah over the fallen Jerry. After a double clothesline, however, Jerry hot tagged TNT, but the faces’ comeback wouldn’t last long as Saddam Insane ran in, causing the DQ loss. Ali again was the highlight. Heel beatdown ensues until the customary Legend Save is made, thanks this time to Doink (same character, same outfit, and all, though definitely not Borne, Keirn, Lombardi, etc.). And of course it leads to an impromptu main event being made between Doink and Saddam. After this match, a raffle for school supplies is announced, leading me to starting my first ever chant. Sure it was just me and some kid chanting “School sucks,” but you have to start somewhere! 2) NWS Jersey Shore Title (represented by unaltered NWA domed globe) 3-Way: Gavin Quest (Champion) vs. Nicky Oceans vs. J.D. Smoothy - And thus began a weekend-long feud between myself and Mr. Smoothy, as he noticed my pro-Quest sign, snatched it away, tore it, and threw the remains back at me. I was not alone, though, as he also cut a promo containing a borderline-non-PC remark aimed towards a sizeable African-American fan: “I haven’t seen a blackhead that big since I looked in the mirror this morning!” Prematch hijinks aside, let me just say now that Gavin Quest will be someone, someday, somewhere. I loved his series against Archadia, and this began a series of good matches for him this weekend. His opponents were no slouches either. Match started with Quest fighting off the heels, coming back from an initial ambush by reversing a double suplex into a double DDT. Though he sent Oceans out of the ring, J.D. got the best of him, and the heels alternated in “one man distracts ref, the other strangles Quest” spots. Quest was able to get Smoothy in the corner for the Ten Punches, and leaped out of a powerbomb counter attempt, but was met with a clothesline. But Oceans could not let the title slip away from him and broke up the count, starting a fight between the heels. Many nice spots, as I think J.D. lifted Oceans into what looked like a Sky High, but as he came down, J.D. kicked him low. Oceans, though, came back with a nice belly-to-belly and head-and-arm suplexes. This built to a big three-way spot where J.D. was going to superplex Nicky, but Gavin returned and powerbombed J.D., who still had the suplex hooked and went on to still execute it! In the end, Quest got Smoothy in the crossface for the submission victory. Again, very good. 3) Main Event: Doink vs. Saddam Insane (w/Hasheem “Chemical” Ali) - In hyping this match, they promised that Doink would select his own manager to counteract Ali. This meant he would go to the crowd to choose a second, and the honorary “Dink” ended up being Darren Venture from the St. Matthew’s show. What are the chances of THAT happening? Still don’t know who Doink was here. Do know that Saddam is still fat though...he doesn’t have ONE six-pack, but a whole tavern full! Being a Doink match, of course we had all the comedy spots...Doink spanking a posing Saddam, who was perched on the turnbuckles; switching hands before a test of strength, then stomping on Saddam’s toes when he had the advantage; and giving Insane a wedgie after missing a butt splash (which showed more of Saddam than I’d like to see...being affixed on his stomach was like watching a tennis game as it was...) Insane took over with assists from Ali, and had an Arabian Vulcan Nerve Pinch on Doink, but the clown broke it up with a jawbreaker, followed by a superkick and a moonsault (!) attempt that missed. The heels tried to capitalize with a double team, but Heel Miscommunication followed. Doink then disposed of Ali with a nice stunner (!) and finished off Saddam with the whoopie cushion. PART II (Sept. 10) Double-shot on this day, with one show in the afternoon and the other just as the evening came. I had to work that Saturday morning, but fortunately finished at 2, so I drove back home, stayed there for maybe 5 minutes, and then rode back to the fair grounds. On this day, King Kong Bundy was in the house, or tent, whatever the case may be. Though he was apparently sighted going “out” to a house of a different kind between the end of his autograph session and the start of the opening match: 1) Nicky Oceans vs. Chris Steele - Oceans was working face this time, though Steele acted like one before the match, slapping hands with fans and all. That notion ended quickly with a sneak attack on Oceans, who dominated the opening moments of the match while randomly mouthing off to fans. He missed the third in a series of shoulderblocks, though, and fell victim to a kind of Shining Wizard from Oceans for 2. Oceans got a few more two-counts (off a series of legdrops first, then some fistdrops), but then made the mistake of dropkicking Steele close to the ropes, as when he landed, Steele rebounded and crotched Nicky as he fell. He missed a tope con hilo though, and was felled by an Oceans enziguiri, followed by a top-rope bodypress, which proved to be Nicky’s winning move. Decent action here. 2) Saddam Insane (w/Hasheem “Chemical” Ali) vs. TNT - Wow, a rematch from last year’s show at the Festival! Oh wait, this isn’t Gavin Quest vs. Archadia. Saddam managed to make his appearance even more tasteful with light blue, star-spangled Speedos. He did the Sheik routine again, this time his faux-Arab utterances included quoting Jambi the Genie from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. Ali added that they would leave the ring if anyone chanted “USA.” You could guess what the fans chanted next. The match began as they repeated the Doink test of strength spot, minus the hand-switching but otherwise right down to the toe stomping. Likewise, Saddam relied on interference from Ali, as before. Nervehold is broken by (weak) elbows from TNT, but he makes the mistake Hulk Hogan made time and time again and tries to slam the big guy. Insane capitalized by holding TNT in a camel clutch, but that didn’t last long, and TNT came back with a(n again weak-looking) top rope clothesline, but still couldn’t get the slam. You should have said your prayers and took your vitamins, brother! It finally took a missed big splash for Saddam to finally go up, but maybe TNT was anticipating what was to come, as he seemed to just gingerly put Insane down just before Ali came in to cause the DQ. Uh-oh, heel beatdown, what could be coming up next? Yep...King Kong Bundy (actually spotted in the tent’s Gorilla Position by one of the younger fans...who also identified him as “Big Show”) comes out and challenges Hasheem. There’s your main event. 3) NWS Jersey Shore Title 3-Way: Gavin Quest (champion) vs. J.D. Smoothy (announced as the cruiserweight champion of a fed I didn’t catch the name of...belt was a painted over WCW TV title) vs. Colvis Fear (w/Batman shirt) - But first, J.F. vs. J.D., Round Two. Just before I went I whipped up a really antagonizing sign for him reading, “Smoothy = Fruit” (like the Smoothie drink...which is usually made with fruit...you know?) I planned to really play things up this time, when he came out I was practically shoving the sign at him going, “Yeah, remember me?!!?” and all. Sure enough, he took the bait, and proceeded to tear it up and thrust it all right back at me once again. To my credit, I played off it for all I was worth, telling everyone around me how I couldn’t believe he’d do such a thing, etc. Anything to get my local indy wrestler more heat, you know? Yet for my efforts, I got one kid asking me if I was part of the show (which I denied, of course...have to maintain kayfabe). Well, that out of the way, this was another excellent match like the previous three-way. The action kicked off with a triple test of strength that culminated in the challengers double clotheslining Quest. An airplane spin attempt by Fear didn’t turn out quite as planned, as he hit Smoothy with Quest, who then somehow managed to roll up Fear. Quest and J.D. repeated their 10-punches/throw/clothesline spot from the last match. Later, Fear looked to be trying a Poetry in Motion on Smoothy with an assist from Quest, but that ended up in J.D. moving, Fear landing on the turnbuckles...then double stomping the still-hunched over Quest (at least that’s how I remember the spot). The match’s innovative three-way spot came with Fear was attempting to German Quest, then J.D. came in and sunset flipped Fear, taking him down for the move...while he still had Quest hooked for the suplex. After more solid action, Gavin once again got Smoothy in the crossface for the win. Before the last match, Johnny Falco’s birthday is announced. He is presented with a plastic cake...at least THAT won’t end up going into his face as a trophy is broken over his head, while someone tears up a painting of himself that a fan made. 4) Main Event: King Kong Bundy vs. Hasheem “Chemical” Ali - Basically, Bundy dominates, misses Avalanche, then Ali takes over...only to go for a whip into the corner, which gets reversed and results in the Avalanche hitting this time. One big splash later came the 1-2-3....NO! FIVE! ...4...5! PART III (Sept. 10) Early evening now, and I was lucky enough to fit church in between the last show and this one. The Iron Sheik was signing autographs this time around, and I got my $5.00 Polaroid, in which we both did the “Iran, number one!” pose, which impressed the Sheik, apparently (“See? He know!” he bragged) The people from the website got Bundy to do a picture with me and my sign, which he autographed afterwards. 1) Hasheem “Chemical” Ali and Giant Kabuki (w/Saddam Insane) vs. Chris Steele/J.D. Smoothy - Kabuki was a goofy “Asian” guy in a karate gi and black Ultimo Dragon mask. Don’t know just who he was...I want to go out on a limb and say he was TNT, somehow. Cheap Heat Tactic #456...Ali tells us that Kabuki was an abused child and can’t stand the name of his father, which happened to be “Boo.” Guess what the crowd did. And speaking of cheap heat, again I was ready for Smoothy (Sign: “Smoothy vs. Fan - 2-0. Smoothy in the ring - 0-2!”) but again he gets the last laugh as he WORKED FACE this match. Steele armdragged Kabuki for the early advantage, then tried to go Old School but got hit on the way down. At this point, a Hasheem Ali fan even more obnoxious than I joined our section, his favorite chant being “Kick that butt!” As Ali did his big chops (preceded by telling everyone to be quiet so we could hear them), me and said fan did get to encourage him with a “One more time!” chant. Kabuki was doing the Kamala act, basically, in that he didn’t know what to do with his opponent when he had the advantage. Nonetheless, J.D. was playing face (though I know better) in peril, and took some abuse from Ali. He missed a second-rope splash, however, leading to the hot tag to Steele...which really only led to a spot where the heels were basically playing hot potato with him, leading to Kabuki accidentally knocking out the ref, leading to a...wait for it...Heel Beatdown, which of course led to...yep, Bundy coming out and basically doing the same spiel from the afternoon, only now he challenged Saddam. Faces win by DQ, of course. 2) NWS Jersey Shore Title: Gavin Quest (champion) vs. Antonio Malave (1/2 tag team champions, last I checked) - Malave is one half of Los Diablos, so you could imagine how much I was looking forward to seeing this...even if Malave didn’t quite seem happy to receive my “Rudos” chants. Quest was attacked from behind while posing on the turnbuckles, but fired back with a leg lariat before unfortunately giving chase outside the ring, which of course ended up in him getting stomped as he slid back in. Malave got a running jawjacker and a head-and-arm suplex for a pair of two-counts. Quest tried a sunset flip, but Antonio rolled through, and it was time for this Diablo to get his kicks. He then began to work on the leg, in between throwing a DRAGON SUPLEX...but to no avail, as in an odd moment, Falco was talking to the ref for some unexplained reason. Malave went on plaing Ricardo Flair, applying a bow-and-arrow and then a Figure Four on Quest’s softened knee. A missed splash, however, was the beginning of the end for the Diablo, as Quest eventually came back and then reversed a uranage attempt into the crossface to complete the hat trick of title defenses, and excellent ones at that. More birthday wishes, this time, for Wayne (NWS website person). 3) Main Event: King Kong Bundy vs. Saddam Insane - Truly a main event in any arena...or is that a main event that would take up many arenas? Again Bundy dominates early, again Saddam gets a wedgie. He gets a lucky clothesline and uses various cheating techniques, but in an ironic twist on irony, Saddam missed his own Avalanche, Bundy splashes, 1-2-3...NO!...4-5. The Deal: As I said earlier, just about all the Gavin Quest stuff was very good, and it was fun to see wrestlers I grew up watching. And “feuding” with J.D. Smoothy (when all was said and done, there were no hard feelings, by the way). A bit too much Saddam Insane for my tastes, and a lot of the same things happened among the three parts, though that was understandable. Post a comment in response: |
| © 2002-2008. Blurty Journal. All rights reserved. |