Post by fifthhorseman on Aug 24, 2016 1:49:16 GMT -5
This is day six of the Universal Wrestling Federation tournament of champions! Tonight’s action comes from Kansas City, Kansas, where we will see the final SIX round-round qualifiers in the UWF World Trios tournament… and three of the last World Heavyweight bottom bracket matches as well. If you like tag-team action, this is the night for it!
The Motor City Timesplitters defeated the Castoffs at 13:20 in the opening contest when Alex Shelley pinned Chris Harris with “Sliced Bread #2”. This was a back-and-forth contest, with Neidhart’s power, Jannetty’s speed, and Harris’s technique providing enough contrast to give the MCT fits, whose overconfidence almost did them in. However, Kushida was the x-factor in the match, and did most of the late damage to Harris, setting him up for his teammate’s finisher.
In the next World Trios match, Demolition defeated reDragon at 11:58 by pinfall after Crush hit Mike Quackenbush with a heart punch. The faster strikers tried to hit and run against their much larger foes, and did so successfully for brief flashes. O’Reilly and Fish even connected with their patented “Ax and Smash” ON Smash. The pin was foiled, though, and then Demolition took over, utilizing their mass, strength, and experience to dispatch with the ROH stalwarts.
The Newer Age Outlaws beat the Midnight Express at 19:47 by disqualification when the referee caught Jim Cornette hitting Jesse James with his tennis racket. Sadly so, because the two trios were putting on a clinic in old-school tag-team wrestling, and Bobby Eaton and Billy Gunn were the lynchpins of the match. Multiple tags on both sides, a slow, steady build-up to each team landing just one or two decisive finishers… but when James hit Stan Lane with a pumphandle slam, Cornette was the unlikely man who hit the final “move” of the contest.
In the first singles match of the night – a UWF World Heavyweight match in which the loser was out of the tournament, and the winner wrestled later that night – Terry Funk defeated Dalton Castle by submission at 17:01 with a spinning toe hold. Despite the obvious aesthetic differences, the two men were, at the beginning, basically equal at the scientific aspects of professional wrestling. Even when they began trading punches and kicks, it was close – but Funk’s vast edge in experience was the deciding factor, and he gradually took control of Castle before tapping him out in the middle of the ring.
Jack Swagger wrestled the match of his life and upset Bob Backlund at 23:28. This was an amateur-styled clinic, with a minimum of closed fists or kicks used by either man. It seemed as if they had decided that the only way to win the match was to go back to their roots. Nonetheless, it was still a hard-hitting, stiff battle, with crisp uppercuts and cross-face forearms interspersed with too many variations of suplexes to count. Swagger scored the pinfall in surprising fashion, reversing Backlund’s lethal crossface chickenwing and falling back with a straightjacket suplex, holding down the former WWF champion for 3.1 seconds. The two respectfully shook hands in the ring afterwards.
Back to Trios action: The Fabulous Freebirds defeated reDRagon at 14:36 when Michael Hayes pinned Kyle O’Reilly after a Buddy Roberts-assisted double-DDT. This was a match that reDragon had to win, if only to stay respectable in the round-round standings, and they took it to the Freebirds early and often. However, the southern legends fought with guile and grit and more than a little bit of triple-teaming, and were able to keep O’Reilly from finishing off Hayes with a guillotine choke.
Demolition defeated the Motor City Timesplitters at 10:50 when Ax pinned Kushida after the elbow drop from the middle rope. The hit-and-run offense by the MCT frustrated the former WWF champs into several mistakes, enabling Shelley and Sabin to work over Smash early on. But a late tag to Crush turned the tide, and the biggest man in the ring took control back for his team. Kushida was the late man standing for his crew, but he eventually succumbed to Ax and Smash’s famous finisher.
In the final match of the World Trios round-robin, the Castoffs and the Newer Age Outlaws fought to a 30-minute, time-limit draw. This was an important battle for the NAO, but the Castoffs refused to go through the tournament without a single win, putting up the fight of their collective lives. Neidhart matched Palumbo’s power, Harris went toe-to-toe with Gunn, and Jannetty matched every hold in Gunn’s unconventional arsenal. Dozens of near-falls went for naught, and the Castoffs received a standing ovation as they returned to the dressing room.
The main event of the night saw Terry Funk defeat Jack Swagger with a brainbuster at 21:04 to advance in the UWF World Heavyweight championship tournament. Both men tried to end it quickly, having already wrestled earlier in the night; as well-conditioned as they were, neither man was at 100%. Swagger used his weight advantage to try to ground the unpredictable Texan, while Funk was more comfortable on a vertical base. A flurry of punches and suplexes nearly won it for the “All-American American” almost won the match, but one missed “Swagger Bomb” enabled Funk to hit a crushing moonsault. A few seconds later, the hardcore icon had his hand raised in victory, one step closer to UWF gold.
The Motor City Timesplitters defeated the Castoffs at 13:20 in the opening contest when Alex Shelley pinned Chris Harris with “Sliced Bread #2”. This was a back-and-forth contest, with Neidhart’s power, Jannetty’s speed, and Harris’s technique providing enough contrast to give the MCT fits, whose overconfidence almost did them in. However, Kushida was the x-factor in the match, and did most of the late damage to Harris, setting him up for his teammate’s finisher.
In the next World Trios match, Demolition defeated reDragon at 11:58 by pinfall after Crush hit Mike Quackenbush with a heart punch. The faster strikers tried to hit and run against their much larger foes, and did so successfully for brief flashes. O’Reilly and Fish even connected with their patented “Ax and Smash” ON Smash. The pin was foiled, though, and then Demolition took over, utilizing their mass, strength, and experience to dispatch with the ROH stalwarts.
The Newer Age Outlaws beat the Midnight Express at 19:47 by disqualification when the referee caught Jim Cornette hitting Jesse James with his tennis racket. Sadly so, because the two trios were putting on a clinic in old-school tag-team wrestling, and Bobby Eaton and Billy Gunn were the lynchpins of the match. Multiple tags on both sides, a slow, steady build-up to each team landing just one or two decisive finishers… but when James hit Stan Lane with a pumphandle slam, Cornette was the unlikely man who hit the final “move” of the contest.
In the first singles match of the night – a UWF World Heavyweight match in which the loser was out of the tournament, and the winner wrestled later that night – Terry Funk defeated Dalton Castle by submission at 17:01 with a spinning toe hold. Despite the obvious aesthetic differences, the two men were, at the beginning, basically equal at the scientific aspects of professional wrestling. Even when they began trading punches and kicks, it was close – but Funk’s vast edge in experience was the deciding factor, and he gradually took control of Castle before tapping him out in the middle of the ring.
Jack Swagger wrestled the match of his life and upset Bob Backlund at 23:28. This was an amateur-styled clinic, with a minimum of closed fists or kicks used by either man. It seemed as if they had decided that the only way to win the match was to go back to their roots. Nonetheless, it was still a hard-hitting, stiff battle, with crisp uppercuts and cross-face forearms interspersed with too many variations of suplexes to count. Swagger scored the pinfall in surprising fashion, reversing Backlund’s lethal crossface chickenwing and falling back with a straightjacket suplex, holding down the former WWF champion for 3.1 seconds. The two respectfully shook hands in the ring afterwards.
Back to Trios action: The Fabulous Freebirds defeated reDRagon at 14:36 when Michael Hayes pinned Kyle O’Reilly after a Buddy Roberts-assisted double-DDT. This was a match that reDragon had to win, if only to stay respectable in the round-round standings, and they took it to the Freebirds early and often. However, the southern legends fought with guile and grit and more than a little bit of triple-teaming, and were able to keep O’Reilly from finishing off Hayes with a guillotine choke.
Demolition defeated the Motor City Timesplitters at 10:50 when Ax pinned Kushida after the elbow drop from the middle rope. The hit-and-run offense by the MCT frustrated the former WWF champs into several mistakes, enabling Shelley and Sabin to work over Smash early on. But a late tag to Crush turned the tide, and the biggest man in the ring took control back for his team. Kushida was the late man standing for his crew, but he eventually succumbed to Ax and Smash’s famous finisher.
In the final match of the World Trios round-robin, the Castoffs and the Newer Age Outlaws fought to a 30-minute, time-limit draw. This was an important battle for the NAO, but the Castoffs refused to go through the tournament without a single win, putting up the fight of their collective lives. Neidhart matched Palumbo’s power, Harris went toe-to-toe with Gunn, and Jannetty matched every hold in Gunn’s unconventional arsenal. Dozens of near-falls went for naught, and the Castoffs received a standing ovation as they returned to the dressing room.
The main event of the night saw Terry Funk defeat Jack Swagger with a brainbuster at 21:04 to advance in the UWF World Heavyweight championship tournament. Both men tried to end it quickly, having already wrestled earlier in the night; as well-conditioned as they were, neither man was at 100%. Swagger used his weight advantage to try to ground the unpredictable Texan, while Funk was more comfortable on a vertical base. A flurry of punches and suplexes nearly won it for the “All-American American” almost won the match, but one missed “Swagger Bomb” enabled Funk to hit a crushing moonsault. A few seconds later, the hardcore icon had his hand raised in victory, one step closer to UWF gold.