War On the East Coast
Sunday, December 28, 2014
From the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
“War On the East Coast” by The New Pornographers (of Vancouver, British Columbia), from the album Brill Bruisers (2014)
Tonight’s Broadcast Features the Ringside Commentary Teams of
Ed Whalen and Lord Alfred Hayes (English)
Marc Blondin and René Goulet (Français)
***
*Winner Will Officiate Tonight’s Main Event*
René Duprée w/ “Classy” Freddie Blassie vs. Leo Burke
Tonight’s show begins with a match in which the stakes couldn’t be much higher (notwithstanding the losers leave town and International Heavyweight Championship matches coming later in the evening). The winner of this match will be the official referee of tonight’s main event match for the International Heavyweight Championship, between “Superstar” Billy Graham and Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Of course, not only will the winner of that match leave tonight’s event with the top prize in Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling, but he will also determine who will have complete control over AGPW after tonight. Should Graham win, then René Duprée would gain control of his father’s company. However, should Hart win, then Emile Duprée would retain control of his company and his son would be banished from AGPW forever! With a win here, René Duprée has an opportunity to directly influence whether he rises into power or gets cast off into exile.
The match harkens back to the intense physical contests they had in the early days of AGPW’s revival, back in the spring and summer of 2013. Then, when they first faced one another in the ring, in singles competition, Duprée cheated to win. In this contest, he tried the same tactics. At one point, he tried to win with a handful of tights, but Burke managed to kick out, proving that you can’t beat a wily veteran the same way twice. Later, he tried folding up Burke and pinning him with his feet on the middle rope, but was caught by the referee. This led to an argument between the two, and “Classy” Freddie Blassie poured on the vitriol for good measure. However, this almost led to Duprée losing the match, as Burke would recover and roll him up for a long 2-count. Burke would follow that up with a bridging German suplex for another long 2-count. Burke decided to take a high risk move by climbing the turnbuckle and attempting a diving clothesline, but Duprée moved out of the way and then dropkicked Burke into the opposite corner. Duprée charged in, but got a boot to the face. Burke charged out of the corner, but Duprée ducked a clothesline and then attempted to give Burke a Duprée Driver, however Burke fell through behind and counter with a falling reverse DDT. Burke covered, but Duprée just managed to get a shoulder up. Sensing that Duprée might not be able to win the match on his own, Blassie placed a set of brass knuckles on the ring apron, then rounded the corner of the ring and created a distraction to draw in both the referee and Burke. Duprée rolled over and collected the brass knuckles before getting up. Seeing Duprée getting up, Burke would go to attack, but get knocked out with a stiff shot from a brass knuckles adorned right hand. Duprée then hid the knuckles in his trunks and pinned Burke for the 1-2-3! Duprée steals the victory, which is roundly cheered by the Boston wrestling fans, and stacks the deck against Hart in tonight’s main event.
Official Decision: René Duprée wins by pinfall at 12:15
***
VS. Paige vs. Jazz
Paige and Jazz have been embroiled in a feud for the past two months and it finally comes to a head here tonight. Jazz is one tough woman and brings the power game to the ring early. She’s intent on showing Paige that if you want to compete with the best of them, you better be ready for a real fight. Jazz spends a good amount of time clobbering Paige until she gets cocky and it lights a fire under Paige. Jazz gives her triple butterfly suplexes and rolls into a pin. Paige kicks out at two and Jazz talks some smack at her and then slaps her in the face. This is what fires up Paige. The angry Englishwoman mounts a comeback on the strength of several headbutts, knee lifts to the head, a missile dropkick and a leg trap sunset flip powerbomb that earns a long 2-count. Paige continues to bring the fight to Jazz and puts her in a Tarantula. Then, she climbs the turnbuckles, but Jazz pulls on the ropes. She climbs up and tries to set up for a superplex, but Paige knocks her down with some headbutts and then leaps off of the top rope, but Jazz dropkicks out of the air. Jazz picks her up and tries to go for the Jazz Stinger, but Paige blocks it and executes the Paige Turner. She’s slow to make the pin, which enables to Jazz to kick out. Paige picks up Jazz and begins to set her up for the Ram-Paige, but Jazz backs her into the turnbuckle, gives her a few shoulderblocks and then takes her out of the corner with a fisherman buster that Paige surprisingly kicks out of. However, after that Jazz puts her in the Bitch Clamp, and Paige doesn’t escape it. She taps out after about 15 seconds in the hold.
Official Decision: Jazz wins by submission at 7:34
***
North American Tag Team Titles Match
Tazaro vs. The Brain Busters
The North American Tag Team Titles are on the line in this contest between four excellent ring workers. Tazaro are the champions and a dominant team, the kind that could only come together in the Mash-Up Wrestling Universe. Taz and Cesaro have been unbeatable since they first came together as a unit to battle the now defunct pairing of Magnus and Rusev. They won tag team gold, perhaps unexpectedly, in October in an incredible 4-team tables, ladders and chairs match. One of the other teams in that contest was the Brain Busters. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard are no slouches themselves and they’ve reasserted their position as the top contenders to the titles by recently defeating The Stampeders, which was the other top ranked tag team trying to take the titles away from Bad Influence in the aforementioned tables, ladders and chairs match.
As one might expect, these teams bring and intense physicality that while it may remain contained within the confines of the ring is no less entertaining than any battle that the ring cannot contain. The early minutes of the match see each team duke it out without each one of them gaining a measure of control over the other. It’s a back-and-forth affair until about five minutes in when Blanchard goes for a diving crossbody block from the top rope and gets caught by Cesaro, who then gives him a backbreaker and then a stiff short-arm clothesline. Cesaro tags Taz in to help with with a double vertical suplex and then Taz goes to work on Blanchard, punishing him. Eventually, Blanchard escapes further punishment by sidestepping a springboard European uppercut from Cesaro and then nailing him with a superkick. Blanchard stumbles into his corner and tags in Double A, who picks up when Blanchard left off. He shows why he’s nicknamed the Enforcer, as he punishes Cesaro. The Brain Busters employ a relentless double team attack predicated on making quick tags. Cesaro escapes further punishment when Anderson goes for the Double A Spinebuster. Cesaro sees the set up and counters with a variation of a tornado DDT! After both men make the hot tag, it is Taz who gets the better Blanchard with a pair of head-and-arm suplexes followed by a T-bone suplex and a bridging northern lights suplex that Blanchard barely kicks out of. Then, when Taz goes for the Tazmission, before he can get Blanchard off of his feet, Anderson comes in to break it up with a kick to the ribs and then a gutwrench suplex. Cesaro, who reached in and made a blind tag right before Anderson executed the gutwrench suplex on Taz, comes in and attacks Anderson with several European uppercuts. A four man brawl ensues. It ends with Anderson getting dumped to the floor with a Brooklyn Boot from Taz. Meanwhile, Blanchard tries to go for a slingshot suplex, but Cesaro blocks it, kicks Blanchard and gives him the Neutralizer. He pins Blanchard for the 3-count to retain the titles for his team.
Official Decision: Tazaro wins by pinfall at 11:31
***
VS. Big E. Langston vs. Killer Kowalski
This match was signed just last week. It came about after Killer Kowalski was paid by “Classy” Freddie Blassie to interfere on behalf of René Duprée in his match against Bret “The Hitman” Hart, two weeks ago on DSN. Kowalski got involved because the rest of Californiacation was banned from ringside. Eric Young saw the backstage meeting between Kowalski and Blassie and informed Emile Duprée, who said he was ready because he had hired an insurance policy to take care of things. His insurance policy was Big E. Langston, who attacked Kowalski when he attempted to seriously injured The Hitman. This is a big man versus big man wrestling match. It is the kind of match that isn’t common place in AGPW. Killer Kowalski is the overwhelming fan favourite in Boston. He is at home in Boston. Although he hails from Windsor, Ontario, he has always been a steady presence in New England and he decided to make his home residence in Massachusetts. Most recently, he had a very successful run in the local territory promotion, including a sting as its Heavyweight Champion. Langston is despised by the fans for having aligned himself with Emile Duprée from the very moment of his debut. Just like in tonight’s opening bout, the territory face is jeered and territory heel is cheered by the Boston Strong.
These big men hit each other hard. It’s all power moves and brawling. Langston and Kowalski spend a considerable amount of time in the opening minutes of the match rearranging the furniture at ringside. Guardrails get bent out of shape and ring steps get dislodged. Back in the ring, the two big men collide like a pair of giant transport trucks crashing head on. The bodyslams and suplexes shake the ring and let out loud thunderous sounds. Near the end of the match, Kowalski executes a piledriver, but much to everyone’s surprise, Langston gets a shoulder up on the pinfall. Kowalski decides to take it to the air and goes for his signature flying knee drop, but Langston rolls out of the way. When they both get up, Langston executes a side belly-to-belly suplex and pins, but Kowalski kicks out. He then lifts him up and tries to get him on his shoulder for the Big Ending, but Kowalski, who has a long, tall frame, is able to get down and apply the Kowalski Claw to Langston’s head. It takes him a bit longer than usual, but he’s able to drop Langston to the mat and force a submission out of him, receiving a huge pop from the fans inside of the arena.
Official Decision: Killer Kowalski wins by submission at 8:16
***
6-Man Tag Team Boston Street Fight
Owen Hart, Lance Storm & Tyson Kidd vs. Frank Scarpa, Tommaso Ciampa & Frank Sexton
This match up epitomizes the hostilities between AGPW and the local Boston-based promotion from which the Boston Strongmen – Frank Scarpa, Tommaso Ciampa and Frank Sexton – come from. On the one side of the ring, you have three hometown boys representing Boston. On the other, you have three Calgarians – Owen Hart, Lance Storm and Tyson Kidd – who patriotically represent Canada. The Calgarians have a massive amount of heel heat despite being faces within the confines of AGPW. But, here, in Boston, they are despised for their actions over the last month. Both the Calgary Three and the Boston Strongmen have appeared in each other’s rival territory to attack the other group. It started with the Boston Strongmen coming to AGPW to retrieve a title belt that was stolen by a then AGPW contracted wrestler. When they couldn’t get the belt back, Scarpa put Commissioner Billy Two Rivers in the hospital. Then, the trio from Calgary retaliated and things have only escalated from there.
Hart, Storm and Kidd arrive in the ring first. They are greeted quite unceremoniously from the crowd. They generate even more heel heat when Hart grabs a microphone and announces that, due to special circumstances, Emile Duprée has cancelled his ban from using the piledriver. A spontaneous chant of
“You’re a nugget!” starts up in response and Hart emphatically announces that,
“I am not a nugget!” The Boston Strongmen come to the ring to a heroes’ welcome and chants of
“The Beantown Three!” and
“Let’s go Boston!” Being a Boston Street Fight, the match occurs inside of the ring and out, and borrowing from a Broken City trope, all of the arena floor. Chairs, kendo sticks, garbage cans, the steel ring steps and tables all come into play. So, too, does the exposed concrete arena floor, where Sexton gets taken out for a while with a vertical suplex from Hart. Plus, the TD Gardens hockey boards become a weapon when Ciampa nearly kills Storm by throwing him into them with a release German suplex! Tables come into play often as Ciampa powerbombs Hart through a table propped up in the corner and Scarpa and Sexton give Kidd a superplex through a table. The sick spot of the night comes near the end of the match when Kidd goes high risk by leaping from the top rope and pulling Scarpa off of the ring apron and onto the floor with a blockbuster!
“Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!” Moments later, Storm tosses Sexton a steel chair and the superkicks it into his face. Then, to end it all, Hart puts Ciampa through a table with a piledriver!
He goes to cover for the win, when suddenly the pinfall is broken up by The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers! Storm tries to come to Hart’s aid, but he is attacked by Test! And Kidd can’t do anything because he’s attacked by Steve Corino! The fans applaud the systematic beatdown of the trio from Calgary. After the Rougeaus give Hart their signature move, La Bombe de Rougeau, they leave the ring, allowing Ciampa to crawl out of the rubble of the broken table and pin Hart. 1…2…3! The Boston Strongmen win and the TD Gardens erupts in applause and cheers! Why have Corino, Test and the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers attacked Storm, Kidd and Hart? What is the meaning of all of this? We're not entirely sure, but what we do know is that Corino, Test and the Rougeaus stick around to congratulate the Boston Strongmen and celebrate with them. The Strongmen produce some American flags to fly during the celebration and the four Canadian grapplers proudly help wave them as the fans cheer and chant
"U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!"Official Decision: Frank Scarpa, Tommaso Ciampa & Frank Sexton win by pinfall at 14:27
***
VS. Samoa Joe vs. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair
Admittedly, there was very little build up going into this match. It is a contest that almost fails to rely on any kind of storytelling at all, rather it sells itself on the strength of the contestants. The Samoan Submission Machine, Samoe Joe, and the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair just happen to be two incredibly talented and universally revered performers and they’ve been booked opposite each other to give the fans one hell of a fantasy wrestling dream match. The only set up that was needed to make this match happen was one of Flair’s patented clothes-stripping, crazy man promos where he claimed to be the best wrestler in the world and that there was nobody in the world that could beat him. Samoa Joe disagreed with his assertion, pointed out that nobody has been able to him (save for on one occasion, with lots of outside interference) and challenged Flair to a match. Flair got angry, accepted the challenge and decided to have a wild skirmish with Joe.
The match starts out slowly as the two superstars feel each other out. They begin with exchanges of wristlocks, arm bars and headlocks. When Flair tries to pick up the pace a little bit, he finds that he has trouble knocking Joe off of his feet. He tries a lot of things that backfire, including going up to the top rope, where he gets caught by Joe and thrown to the mat. Flair begs and pleads for mercy – a classic Nature Boy tactic – and suckers Joe into a trap whereby he thumbs him in the eye and then chopblocks the back of his knee. Flair lets Joe get up and gives him another chopblock to the back of his knee. Then he does it again. The next few minutes sees Flair focus in on Joe’s knee and attack it relentlessly. He works on softening it up for the figure four. However, the moment he is ready to apply it, Joe fights him off using his one good leg, first with kicks to the chest and then a kick to his backside to stop him. Joe uses the ropes to help him get up and when Flair charges at him, he back drops the Nature Boy all the way out to the floor! They brawl on the outside. Both men get some offense in, but Joe gets the better of the exchange and returns Flair to the ring. Joe tries to put Flair away with several high impact moves, but he kicks out of each pinfall attempt. When Joe tries to take him to the turnbuckle to set up the Muscle Buster, Flair kicks him away and then executes a diving double axehandle smash! Flair with a serious of chops and a cross-corner whip attempt. Joe reverses it and Flair hits the corner so hard that he goes up, over it and onto the ring apron. Flair moves to the midway point between the turnbuckles and when he sees Joe charges, he drops down and pulls the top rope with him, causing Joe to fall out to the floor. Flair does some more damage to Joe on the outside, primarily using the turnbuckle post for help. He whips Joe into it, slams his head off of it (which busts him open), gives him an arm ringer and then repeatedly pulls his shoulder into it.
Flair takes Joe back into the ring and gives him the figure four. The Samoan Submission Machine refuses to give up and drags himself to a rope break, but it takes him a long time to do it. Joe gets up, but he can barely stand. Flair tries to stay on the attack, but Joe gives him a hard back elbow, then an inverted atomic drop, a single leg dropkick and a running senton. He pins, but Flair kicks out. Joe picks him up and goes for a whip into the corner, but Flair manages a reversal. He charges in, but Joe moves. Then he gives Flair a bunch of forearm smashes followed by a CCS Enzuigiri kick! Joe pins, but Flair gets a foot on the bottom rope. Joe starts to pick up Flair, who complains about his hair getting pulled. The referee talks to him about it and Flair times it just so that he can give Joe an undetected low blow, followed by a Russian leg sweep and the figure four once more. Could he force Joe to tap out? Joe tries to get to the ropes, but Flair drags him back. However, Joe reverses it and then Flair drags over to the ropes for a break. Both men are down until the referee counts to nine, then they engage in an epic knife-edge chop battle that lasts at least a minute. It goes back and forth until Flair gets the better of it. He whips Joe into the corner and charges in, but Joe gives him the St-Joe side slam! Then he waits for Flair to rise before locking on the Coquina Clutch. Flair tries to get to the ropes, but fails and after Joe gets him to the mat with the bodyscissors locked in, there is no hope for Flair, who passes out in the hold. Joe gets the biggest win of his career!
Official Decision: Samoa Joe wins by submission at 19:28
***
Women’s Championship Title Fatal Fourway Match
Trish Stratus vs. AJ Lee vs. Fabulous Moolah vs. Awesome Kong
Trish Stratus has been a dominant Women’s Champion this year. She is the only Women’s Champion in AGPW history. She’s held the title since February, winning it when she was still under contract to a promotion based out of Boston. Owing to the fact that she left the Broken City with the title, she receives some of the biggest heel heat of the night in her return to Beantown. Stratus has had an interesting title reign, characterized by holding onto the title often times with the help of Awesome Kong, who acts as her personal gatekeeper to the throne. However, she’s also been forced to defend the title with Kong banned from ringside and she has always managed to persevere. Stratus and women’s wrestling legend Fabulous Moolah have been feuding since the moment Stratus first walked into AGPW. Moolah, who holds the longest title reign in professional wrestling history, believes that Stratus isn’t championship material and although she’s lost to Stratus, she has never been pinned or submitted to her. AJ Lee enters this match after appearing as the challenger in Stratus’ last major pay-per-view title bout. After failing to win the match, Lee attempted to befriend Stratus and pledged her allegiance to the “Big Event.” Stratus showed how little she cared and appreciated Lee’s dedication to her by having Awesome Kong destroy her. Kong is the wild card in this match. She was added to the match to make it more fair and balanced for the champion, assuming that she will remain partial to Stratus. However, as an official participant with her first chance of becoming the Women’s Champion, one has to wonder whether the allure of possessing the gold will end Kong’s loyalty to the Champion.
As one might expect, this fatal fourway match resembled more of a tornado tag team match from the moment the bell rang. Stratus and Kong are on the same page, forcing Moolah and Lee to work together to combat them. They continue to work together until they give Kong a double dropkick that sends her falling through the ropes and onto the floor. Then, Moolah and Lee isolate Stratus and give her the Road Warriors’ Doomsday Device! However, that’s when civility between the two ended. Moolah tried to capitalize by going for the pin, only to have Lee break it up with a double axehandle smash to the back. Moolah and Lee would then engage in a lengthy battle. A couple minutes later, with Moolah knocked down and out by a Chick Kick from Stratus, Lee and Stratus square off with Stratus going for a Chick Kick, but Lee uses the matrix evasion to avoid it, and then executes a Russian legsweep. Next, she goes to the top rope and executes a missile dropkick. Stratus kicked out of the pin attempt. Then, Lee stood in wait and nailed Stratus with a shining wizard that looked like it knocked her into next year. Lee pinned the champion. 1…2… but Kong makes the save. She picked up Lee and mauled her with a bearhug, which she turned into a slam. Then, she executed the Awesome Bomb! Getting up, Kong looks at Stratus, who appeared to be completely out of it, and looked at Lee who also appeared to be completely out of it, and paused for a moment. In that moment, the fans at ringside began to chant
“Pin her! Pin her! Pin her!” And that is exactly what she did, but because Kong waited too long, Lee got a shoulder up. At that moment, Moolah attacked Kong, but got knocked down with a hard clothesline. Kong saw Lee getting up and then picked her up and gorilla press slammed her to the floor. Then, she nailed Moolah with another clothesline and a running powerslam. After that, she climbed to the top rope and executed an Awesome Splash! By this time, Stratus was back on her feet and tells Kong to move aside. Kong, not expecting to see Stratus back on her feet, obliged and Stratus pinned Moolah. 1…2…3! Trish Stratus makes another successful title defence and will enter 2015 still as the only Women’s Champion in AGPW history. Who will stop her?
Official Decision: Trish Stratus wins by pinfall at 11:49
***
Losers Leave Town Ultimate X Match
Bad Influence vs. Vitamin C
There is a long history of vile hatred that exists between these two teams. Of course, their feud is but a microcosm of a larger long-standing hatred that has existed between Californiacation and many of the Canadian wrestlers who have so valiantly fought for AGPW throughout 2014. Bad Influence has had great success this year. Christopher Daniels and Frank Kazarian won the North American Tag Team Titles twice. In fact, they are the only 2-time champions in AGPW history. They have also fought in an 8-man tag team losers leave town match that forced the Montréal Mafia to leave AGPW. They also hold a successful title defence against Vitamin C. Christian Cage and Chris Jericho have also had pretty good years, individually. Cage won the International Heavyweight Championship, but then lost it to Californiacation’s “Superstar” Billy Graham. Chris Jericho also had a feud against Graham and failed to defeat him for the title. While both Cage and Jericho have taken turns getting screwed over in matches against Graham, Daniels and Kazarian have been there every step of the way. Cage and Jericho were finally fed up enough to put their careers on the line in this first ever Ultimate X match in AGPW.
This may hold similarities to the earlier Boston Street Fight and to a ladder match in that the action will be extreme, there is an object suspended high above the ring and wrestlers will take big falls from big heights. However, it really is its own animal. There are two clipboards with AGPW wrestler contracts attached to them hanging high above the centre of the ring. They are suspended in place by a pair of ring rope cables that form the shape of an X. The cables are attached to 4 steel pillars placed directly behind each of the turnbuckle posts. Ladders are banned from this match. A wrestler much climb the turnbuckle or steel pillar and then move from the corner onto one of the ropes, into the centre of the ring to obtain the contracts for his team.
Cage, Jericho, Daniels and Kazarian put everything on the line in this match as everything hinges on getting those contracts. If you don’t get them, you’re out of a job. The fighting is intense and there are a number of big spots. Although ladders are banned from the match, chairs aren’t and they find their way into play mid-way through the match when Vitamin C takes a page out of another tag team from Cage’s past by giving Kazarian a Con-chair-to! While they are doing that, Daniels starts climbing along one of the ropes, but he gets pulled down by Cage. Later, a chair also comes into play when Daniels gives Cage the Angel’s Wings facebuster onto a chair! Just after that, Daniels receives a Codebreaker from Jericho! Then he goes to a turnbuckle, but can’t start scaling the rope, as Kazarian meets him on the turnbuckle and gives him the Flux Capacitor! Then, Kazarian scales one of the ropes and makes it to the contracts, but as he is trying to unhook them, Cage grabs hold of his feet and pulls him down to the mat and then gives him the Unprettier! Later, in another interesting exchange of action, Daniels goes for the Best Moonsault Ever on Jericho, but he gets his knees up. Then, he takes Daniels down with a one-handed bulldog. He follows that up with a Lionsault and then the Walls of Jericho. As he keeps Daniels down and out of the picture, Cage climbs up and scales a rope. He hooks his legs up on the rope so that he can’t be pulled down, so then Kazarian goes up and scales the rope from the opposite side of the ring. Kazarian moves along much quicker because he lets his body hang and uses the momentum of his swinging torso to get to close to the contracts first. Cage sees this and lets his legs go and then executes a desperation spear on Kazarian! They crash to the mat like a train wreck!
“Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!” Jericho releases the Walls of Jericho and checks on his partner, who appears to be half out of it and just points up as if to tell Jericho to stop wasting time. Jericho starts scaling the ropes, but so does Daniels. They meet in the centre of the ring and fight over the contracts. They trade punches and kicks and then, in another death defying spot, Jericho starts to lose his grip, but grabs a hold of Daniels and pulls him down into a Codebreaker! Jericho suffers as much damage from that move as Daniels, as his back hits the canvas. What were once “Holy shit!” chants have morphed into
“This is awesome! This is awesome! This is awesome!” What it all comes down to now is who will be the first man to get up and it is Cage. He uses what little strength and energy he has left to scale the rope and unhook the contracts from the centre of the Ultimate X ring ropes! Vitamin C wins! Chris Jericho and Christian Cage are staying in AGPW! Christopher Daniels and Frank Kazarian, the Bad Influence of AGPW and one half of Californiacation, must now leave AGPW! Despite Cage and Jericho’s nationality and allegiance to AGPW, the fans applaud their performance and give everyone involved a standing ovation for one hell of a match.
Official Decision: Vitamin C wins by retrieving the contracts hanging from above the ring at 16:37
***
International Heavyweight Championship Title Match
“Superstar” Billy Graham w/ “Classy” Freddie Blassie vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart
There is so much riding on this match that this may very well be the most important match in the history of AGPW. Not only is the company’s top prize on the line, but so too is control of the entire company. As mentioned at the top of the show, should “Superstar” Billy Graham win the match, then René Duprée would gain complete control of AGPW. However, should Bret “The Hitman” Hart win the match, then Emile Duprée would retain control of his company and banish his son from AGPW forever. Fortunately for René, he beat Leo Burke at the beginning of the show and therefore won the right to act as the referee in this main event match. René is officiating a match in which he couldn’t have a more vested interest in the outcome. Hart is surely fighting an uphill battle. Some might even say that he is fighting an unwinnable battle. However, he’s a man with a lot of integrity. He has personally selected by Emile Duprée to defend the honour of his company and Canadian professional wrestling; to fight back and conquer the scourge that is Californiacation; and to close out a year full of turmoil by extinguishing the source of that turmoil once and for all. Hart takes this responsibility seriously and he’s entering into the most important battle of the War on the East Coast knowing full well that the odds are stacked against him and that there is little hope of him surviving it.
Graham receives an overwhelming hero’s welcome from the partisan crowd. We may be on the East coast, but national allegiances are strong and adding to that the inter-promotional rivalry between AGPW and a local organization that calls Boston home, it is little wonder that the fans prefer the ring general of Californiacation to Canada’s best wrestler of all-time. Hart is booed relentlessly and has trash thrown at him as he walks down the entrance aisle. He is entering into one of the most hostile wrestling environments that he’s ever been in. However, he’s survived and graduated from the Hart Family Dungeon, a notoriously hellacious wrestling training school. If there is anyone who is up to the challenge of competing in this environment, it’s the Hitman.
From the moment the opening bell rings, Graham uses his considerable power advantage to gain the upper hand. However, when he tries to transition from using feats of strength to a technical style, employing headlocks and chinlocks, Hart breaks out of every one of them with ease and eventually takes control, using a variety of technical holds to keep Graham on the mat. The match moves at a slow pace to start, with both men trying to conserve their energy. Hart has a cardio advantage and tries to increase this advantage by using some grounded headlocks and even slapping a sleeperhold onto Graham. The champion battles out of the sleeperhold and regains control of the match with a pair of running clotheslines. He takes Hart into the corner and delivers some stinging chops to the chest and some punishing kicks to the abdomen. After giving Hart a cross-corner whip, Graham charges in for a clothesline, but Hart gets a back elbow up on him. He tries to fight out of the corner, but Graham shoves him back into the corner and starts to choke him out with a tag rope. Until this point, Duprée was not a factor in the match, but here he lets it go for a while and then counts slowly. After a half-hearted warning, Graham chokes him with it again, and again Duprée shows us that he is not impartial. An interesting exchange occurs a little while later when Graham goes for a sleeperhold and Duprée doesn’t rush dropping Hart’s hand. Hart stays alive, but Graham stays in control with a punishing lariat. Graham then questions Duprée for why the 'slow' count. “Classy” Freddie Blassie tells Graham that it isn’t important and that he has the match in the bag. Hart had time to recover and was just playing possum as when Graham goes to pick him up, Hart pulls him into a small package. Duprée is slow to get into position but does and counts. 1…2. kick out! They get up and exchange blows. Graham gives Hart an eye rake, then a bodyslam and an elbow drop to the sternum. He pins. 1…2. kick out! Graham now questions Duprée about why he bothered to count Hart’s small package pinfall attempt. Duprée explains that he needs to maintain an appearance of neutrality (no matter how big of a joke that is).
Graham gets back on the attack. He stomps on Hart, scoopslams him and goes for a running leg drop, but the Hitman moves out of the way. As he’s getting up, Graham approaches and Hart gives him a fireman’s carry takedown and then a reverse neck snap. Hart grabs Graham by the legs and pins him with a top bridge. Graham kicks out at two. Hart waits for Graham to get up and then gives him a standing dropkick. He waits again and this time hits him with a running clothesline that knocks him over the ropes and onto the floor. Hart then looks to be going for a suicide dive but puts on the breaks when the referee ‘inadvertently’ walks in the way to start a slow 10-count on Graham. Hart won’t let Graham go, though, and instead goes over to the ropes and performs a slingshot plancha on Graham. Duprée speeds up the count, forcing Hart to roll in and out of the ring to break it and ultimately to return Graham to the ring after only slamming his face off of the ring apron. Hart has a brief exchange of words about Duprée’s crooked count before climbing the turnbuckle and executing a diving axehandle smash to Graham’s forehead. Hart then starts going into finishing mode, executing an inverted atomic drop followed by a clothesline. Then, he executes a side Russian legsweep, followed by a pendulum backbreaker and a diving pointed elbow drop from the second turnbuckle. Hart applies the Sharpshooter. The fans turn up the vitriol and then chant
“Rope break! Rope break! Rope break!” After about half a minute in the hold, Graham makes it to the ropes.
Hart stomps on Graham’s lower back and then gives him another pendulum backbreaker. He drags him to the middle of the ring and tries to reapply the sharpshooter, but Graham fights with him and kicks Hart in the crotch to block it! Of course, Duprée says nothing to him about it. Graham crawls to the ropes and uses them to get up. He waits for Hart to get up and gives him a bearhug. Duprée raises his hand three times, but it doesn’t drop the third time and he forces a break by giving Graham multiple elbows to the forehead. Graham swings wildly at him for a clothesline, but Hart ducks it and tries to pull Graham into a backslide, but the Superstar uses his power to pull Hart down into a backslide. 1…2… kick out! Graham gives him a standing dropkick and then applies a figure four leg lock. Graham tells Duprée to signal for the bell to be rung, while Blassie collects the title belt from the timekeeper (shades of the Montréal Screwjob). The fans are going nuts over it. Duprée hesitates and then appears to raise his hand to signal for the bell, but then he points at the rope and calls for a rope break as Hart grabs onto the bottom rope. Now, the decibel level has gone through the roof as the fans, Graham and Blassie give Duprée an earful. Duprée for his part says that he can’t end the match with Hart’s hands on the bottom rope. Meanwhile, Hart has managed to get up and seems to be waiting to strike. Graham turns to see Hart coming at him and he just manages to get his foot up in time to give him the big boot. Graham picks up Hart and sets up for the piledriver, but Hart counters it with a back body drop! Hart runs to the ropes and goes for a running crossbody, but Graham catches him and gives him a fall forward slam. He hooks the leg. 1…2… shoulder up! Graham is furious with Duprée for not counting faster. He scoopslams Hart and goes to the second rope. He tries for a diving leg drop, but Hart rolls out of the way. They both get up right before Duprée counts them out. Graham goes for a running clothesline, but Hart ducks it and pulls him down into a crucifix pin. 1…2…3!
Bret Hart has done it! He has won the match! The fans are livid! Immediately, Blassie and Graham protest. They appear to have been double crossed by Duprée. Blassie takes a swing at him with his cane, but Duprée blocks it and pulls it out of his hands. But Graham kicks him and sets up for a piledriver. However, Hart runs at him and takes him down with a Hart Attack clothesline! Blassie attacks Hart and puts a stranglehold on him until Duprée pulls him away and then bodyslams him to the mat! Californiacation has been defeated! Bad Influence must leave town and “Superstar” Billy Graham is no longer the International Heavyweight Champion. Also, René Duprée must now leave AGPW, after having counted the pinfall that has banned him from the company! What is going on here? Who knows?! But the fans in the TD Gardens don’t like it at all and they rain down on the ring with a
“Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!” chant and throw trash towards the ring while Duprée hands Hart the International Heavyweight Championship and raises his hand in victory!
Official Decision: Bret “The Hitman” Hart wins by pinfall at 19:10
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