Post by fifthhorseman on Aug 20, 2014 0:31:57 GMT -5
Joey Styles: Good evening to all of you wrestling fans watching tonight, and welcome to AWA Wednesday Night Warriors! My name is Joey Styles, and for the next two hours, the wrestlers! In the American Wrestling! Association will be putting their skills to the test, in the toughest, most competitive circuit in the MUW Network! Tonight’s main event is the surest proof of that, and it might be the biggest tag-team match ever aired on WNW… the AWA Tag-Team champions, Beer Money, defend their titles against both the Miracle Violence Connection, and Harlem Heat! But that’s not even the only title match on tonight’s card, right, partner?
Josh Mathews: Indeed it is not, Joey – hello fans, my name is Josh Mathews! You’ll also see the AWA TVX champion, A.J. Styles, defend the strap this week against Bobby Eaton of the Midnight Express! Adrian Neville goes one-on-one with Shelton Benjamin, one half of the World’s Greatest Tag-Team! The newest HoRseman, Barry Windham, takes on “Unbreakable “Michael Elgin! Chris Hero squares off against the newest member of the Vickie Guerrero stable, Al Perez! And in what is sure to be an intense battle between two of the best in the business, former AWA Heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan battles “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff!
Joey Styles: And you get it all for free! Let’s get down to the ring, where Christy Hemme is standing by to announce the competitors in tonight’s first big match!
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Shelton Benjamin (w/Charlie Haas and Mike Rotunda) vs. Adrian Neville:
The three amateur standouts entered the ring last, and Rotunda took the microphone from Hemme. He said, “Allow me to introduce the new and improved Varsity Team. My name is Mike Rotunda, and after having the privilege of meeting with two of the greatest wrestlers in the world last week, the three of us decided that it was time to shake things up a bit. Myself and Charlie Haas – we’ve decided that together, showcasing the mat technique and pro skills we’ve developed over decades of training, that we should capture those AWA Tag-Team titles together. Shelton, meanwhile, has set his mind on one thing: the AWA TVX championship. He doesn’t care who wears it, he doesn’t care who he has to go through – and that starts with you, Neville – but the ‘Gold Standard’ wants a TVX title shot.”
The bell rang, and it was your typically outstanding TVX-styled match. Benjamin was rarely “out-quicked” by anybody, but Neville was his superior in that facet of the match. However, the “Gold Standard” was bigger by about 50 pounds, and combined with his NCAA-honed technique and the coaching of his peers outside the ring, Benjamin was able to eventually wear Neville down. A variety of suplexes set him up, and a devastating superkick took Neville down in about nine minutes.
COMMERCIAL
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Chris Hero vs. Al Perez (w/Vickie Guerrero):
Guerrero smiled and gestured at her newest client, the former WCCW champion Perez. Hero was suitably unimpressed. Roughly the same height and weight, it was a very evenly-matched contest for the first couple of minutes. However, Perez ramped up his offense, throwing forearms and kicking away at Hero’s knees. The all-around attack baffled the ROH stalwart, and he wasn’t able to defend himself from Perez’s “Ally-Copter” spinning slam, earning the “Latin Heartthrob” his first AWA victory.
A teaser image was shown for the next AWA pay-per-view, the Million Dollar Match, coming up in September.
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Bobby Eaton (w/Jim Cornette) vs. A.J. Styles [C]:
Mathews noted that despite his tag-team pedigree, Eaton was a fine singles wrestler, noting his short WCW TV title run. His partner, Stan Lane, left the ringside area when the bell rang at the ref’s insistence; Cornette was enough to worry about. It was, for lack of a better term, one of the most smoothly-fought matches the AWA had seen in months. Plenty of counter-wrestling, quick mat-based maneuvers, and textbook top-rope drops had the fans on the edge of their seats. Eaton controlled the back half of the match, but a missed “Alabama Drop” gave the champ the time he needed to hit his “Styles Clash” for the win.
COMMERCIAL
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Michael Elgin vs. Barry Windham (w/JJ Dillon and Edge):
The stoic Elgin entered the ring first. He was followed by the supremely confident Texan, allied with his manager and Edge, who was there to keep an eye out for Rick Martel. Windham took over early with armdrags and headlock takeovers, but the smug look on his face was wiped away when Elgin press-slammed him to the floor. After that, the match was a more deliberate affair, and the ROH mainstay utilized his low center of gravity, and power, to frustrate and bash Windham. But the HoRseman was equally resilient, and brawled back. At the end, he used a claw on Elgin’s skull to render him unconscious on his feet, before bouncing off the ropes with a huge lariat to take the winner’s share of the purse.
A 60-second video package was shown highlighting the action from last week’s episode, particularly the debut of Umaga, and AWA Heavyweight champion Big Van Vader successfully defending his strap against Verne Gagne.
Lance Russell stood in the ring, and announced that he was finally able to get the interview that AWA fans were demanding. A few seconds later, the Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman came to the ring, as footage was shown of their various wins thus far in the Assocation, as well as their post-match attack on Diamond Dallas Page. The crowd response was about 80/20 positive.
Russell congratulated them for their success thus far, and welcomed them to the AWA… but then asked why they were such sore losers after the Page/Smith bout. Pillman took the microphone. “First of all… on behalf of the two men at my side, I’d like to thank the fans for welcoming us into the AWA. This is the best territory in the MUW network ,and we’re going to prove that we belong.”
“As for us being poor sports – you’re mistaken, Russell. That was just us proving a point. If you wrestle me, or Dynamite, or Davey Boy, you’re gonna know that you have a long night ahead of you. Win, lose or, draw, you’re in for a fight. And believe me, we don’t plan on losing very many times. You see, we came here to the AWA for the simplest reason there is. We want all the titles. Championships are money, championships are respect, championships add prestige to legacies. And we don’t care who we have to wrestle to earn those titles, whether we like the guy or we don’t. We really don’t care if the fans cheer us or boo us – that’s fine, too, you bought your ticket, you can figure that out on your own. But if you respect pure wrestling talent and guts and determination to be the very best… then you’ll be on our side.”
“The three of us are going to continue to kick ass and take names until we have gold around our waist. I’m Brian Pillman – I was X-Division 20 years before X-Division even existed! I revolutionized high-flying on this continent. Davey Boy Smith – the most powerful man in the AWA today. He’s held just about every title he ever wrestled for, and that most certainly includes the Intercontinental title. The Dynamite Kid is, pound for pound, the best and most fearsome wrestler in the world, period. There is no one walking God’s green earth today that can lace his boots. And just in case you forgot, the British Bulldogs are former World champs, too – they were the most dominant team during an era loaded with tag-team talent. Whoever wins that triple-threat match tonight better get ready for their next challenge.”
“This is a very cutthroat and competitive business, Russell. I have lots of friends back there in the locker room, as do my partners. But I’d fight any one of them for a championship. And we want all of them.”
COMMERCIAL
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Daniel Bryan vs. Paul Orndorff:
No mixed crowd reaction here; Orndorff was one of the most despised men in the AWA, and Bryan was its most popular. This was an intense battle from the opening bell, at which point Orndorff jumped Bryan from behind. He hammered the “American Dragon” with crisp punches, kicks, and clotheslines, and threw him into a corner. But Bryan fought his way out, backing Orndorff in with chops and kicks of his own. A series of belly-to-back suplexes followed, and then Bryan tied him up with a surfboard. However, “Mr. Wonderful” eventually worked out of it, and the two locked up in the middle of the ring again.
Unfortunately, the referee called for a disqualification when Diamond Dallas Page charged the ring to exact some revenge on Orndorff for his post-match piledriver two weeks earlier. DDP got a few punches in, but the resilient villain scrambled out of the ring and up the ramp with Page hot on his heels. Bryan leaned in the corner, frustrated with the ending, and he leaned into the camera declaring that he was coming after Big Van Vader at the Million Dollar Match, after John Cena at Summer slam II, and after Austin wherever he could find him.
Cameras caught up to Guerrero, Perez, and Carter backstage, who were obviously happy with the Perez win. Guerrero vowed that it was Carter’s turn next week, and that sooner or later, she would be managing a champion very soon.
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Beer Money [C] (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Harlem Heat vs. the Miracle Violence Connection:
The top contenders – and brothers – confidently walked to the ring first, followed by the former tag champs, who barged down the ramp like a two-man football team. Last but not least, Roode and Storm walked to the ring, led by their arrogant manager. Big-match ring intros by Christy Hemme, and Joey Styles reminded the audience that this would be fought under triple-threat rules: first pin or submission to the winner.
Storm and Booker T started out the match, and set a pace for the entirety of the match. Mathews theorized that Beer Money would try to control the bout, as they were the lightest and (theoretically) best conditioned of the three teams; also, they could lose the match and their titles simply by standing on the outside if either of the other two duos pinned each other.
As mentioned, it was fast, and hard-hitting, and the referee gave them all just enough leeway to satisfy everybody. Stevie Ray and Steve Williams matched power, while Gordy and Storm, and Booker and Roode often matched up in solid, evenly-fought battles. As was often the case in championship triple-threats though, the challenging teams butted heads and broke several pin attempts in order to get the victory for themselves. Dillon did everything he could from the outside to get Harlem Heat and the MVC rattled and angry at each other as well.
The action inevitable spilled outside, and all six men brawled to the crowd’s approval. Bodies were thrown, kicked, and suplexed at will around ringside and the base of the ramp, and the ref reluctantly started the slowest ten-count of his life. More than a few drops of blood were spilled, and people rolled through the ring and out the other side to break the count and keep the fight alive. But with just a minute left in television time, Storm caught a distracted Ray in a rollup, and used every ounce in his body to keep the big man’s shoulders on the mat for the three-count. It took several seconds for the other four men to even realize that the match was over, and the champions were handed their belts as the show faded to black.