Post by fifthhorseman on Apr 2, 2019 22:58:44 GMT -5
MLW FRIDAY NIGHT HEAT
EPISODE 25
EPISODE 25
60-second video montage recapping the events of last week’s show, followed by title graphics and explosive pyro.
Joey Styles: “Hello, wrestling fans, and welcome to MLW Friday Night Heat! I’m Joey Styles, and this week I’m joined on color commentary by the one and only, the hardcore legend himself, Terry Funk. We have four matches scheduled for you tonight, with both the MLW Intercontinental Tag-Team titles and the MLW Wild Card championship up for grabs tonight. So let’s get straight to the ring where Howard Finkel is standing by!”
LEVIATHAN vs. the NATURALS:
vs.
Stevens and Douglas were receiving another try-out in MLW, in part thanks to their TNA ties with Jeff Jarrett. However, when they signed their open contract, they probably didn’t count on facing such intense competition.
This wasn’t a match, it was a decimation. Leviathan toyed with the Naturals for a couple of minutes, and when they got bored, they hit Douglas with a double-powerbomb (Vicious lifting him up, Batista pulling him down) for the win. Before the referee could even raise their hands, they repeated the maneuver on Stevens, and they left the ring with a snarl.
Styles: “Now that was a statement. I’m being told that because of the unexpected quickness of our first match, we may be shuffling tonight’s broadcast around a bit… but in the meantime, we’re going to go to an interview we recorded earlier in the week with Eli Drake.”
The shot began with Battlebowl footage: the Main Event Machine, split up and in opposite corners, and Paul Orndorff’s selfish shot at glory. “Mr. Wonderful” won the match by piledriving his friend and ally, Drake, and left him lying in the ring.
Drake: “Let me talk to you! A few weeks ago, I was betrayed, back-stabbed, double-crossed and cheated out of a golden ticket at Battlebowl. But you know what, I should have saw it coming. For all his talk, for all those muscles, Paul Orndorff was jealous… of me. He saw the future of this business coming, and he didn’t like it! Hell, I already have a World singles championship on my resume… what about him? Nope, and that’s a fact of life! So he took the cheap shot, took me down, and guess what, he still lost! So he went crawling back to a couple of old running buddies of his, Roddy Piper and Bob Orton, and he’s leeching off their glory just like he leeched off mine. Well, do you think I care? No. I do not – not when I have a man like the ‘National Treasure’, Nick Aldis – another former World champion, by the way – backing me up. And the next time we get in the ring with Orndorff will be the last time we get in the ring with Orndorff, because he, Piper, Orton, and whatever other relic from Wrestlemania I decides to get in our way is going down. Yeah, dummy!”
The video ended, and Styles and Funk just shook their heads. Styles: “Fans, we’re going right back to the ring – while MLW officials allow for the competitors in our stand-by match to warm up, this regularly-scheduled match is going to take place before our first commercial break of the night! Welcome back, Christian and Edge!”
The DYNAMIC 2UO (w/Jim Cornette) vs. EDGE and CHRISTIAN:
vs.
vs.
Funk: “It’s all well and good that Edge and Christian are back after that beating they took in the gauntlet match a couple of weeks ago, Joey, but this is a big match for the Dynamic 2uo, too – after all, this is their first TV match in MLW!”
Indeed it was; after Austin Aries was bounced from Major League Wrestling in a loser leave town match, Cornette recruited Chris Adams and reunited him with the "Handsome Half-Breed". The teams stared each other down from their respective corners, representative of two very different styles and eras, but once the bell rang, they put on a clinic in tag-team grappling. Funk was right – they both had something to prove. It was a see-saw battle that lasted just under 12 minutes, with the faces prevailing after Christian hit Hernandez (somewhat ironically) with the Unprettier.
After the match, Edge took the house microphone from Finkel, and told the crowd, “Horsemen, Perfectly Ravishing, whatever you want to call yourselves… congratulations! Congratulations on taking advantage of a situation, something a guy like me knows all about. But me and Christian are back at full strength, and we want a rematch. Try us on for size in a straight-up match, and you’ll see who the best team in Major League Wrestling really is.”
COMMERCIAL
MLW WILD CARD CHAMPIONSHIP
JAY BRISCOE (c, w/Mark Briscoe) vs. CACTUS JACK (w/Terry Funk):
vs.
vs.
A brief video recap from last week’s FNH action was aired, wherein the madman from Truth or Consequences defeated Owen Hart to earn this title opportunity. Jack entered the ring with his partner, leaving Styles along on commentary. The Briscoe Brothers followed, with Mark leading Jay to the squared circle. The champion looked ready; the challenger looked manic.
From the get-go, the referee gave them a lot of leeway. They brawled viciously, with Briscoe’s speed neutralizing Jack’s weight advantage. Although he did not have the conditioning that his foe did, Jack pushed the pace, knowing that he had to score two falls to Jay’s one in 20 minutes or less. He threw everything at the champ, but Briscoe fended him off and gave as good as he got.
Unfortunately for the crowd, the match did not last long. Batista made another appearance, and he sauntered down the ramp. He walked right past Funk, and Mark Briscoe, without saying a word, and it seemed as if he was going to sit at the timekeeper’s table. However, he suddenly slid into the ring and powerbombed Jay, and the referee immediately called for the bell. Mark jumped in and stared the 300-pounder down while he tended to his brother, and “the Animal” laughed before leaving the ring. Funk and Jack were furious for getting cheated out of the title shot, and they followed Batista up the ramp, yelling every step of the way.
As they departed, the trio of Piper, Orndorff, and Orton passed them on the way down. Like they had at other stops on the MLW circuit, they pointed at the champion, who was back on his feet; more specifically, at the belt draped over his shoulder.
Styles: “What the hell is going on!?”
COMMERCIAL
JJ Dillon joined Styles at the desk, grinning from ear to ear. And why not? He managed the MLW World Tag-Team champions, as well as one of the next teams in action, who were pressed into action in the stand-by match. After a bit of banter, Styles asked him how Brian Pillman was faring.
Dillon: “Brian is ahead of schedule. His rehab is going great, and he’ll be back in action before you know it. In fact, that’s the reason I came out here – I’ll show you. Trust me, this is going to be such a surprise!”
Styles was baffled, but a couple of seconds later, the screens in the USF Sun Dome displayed a live feed from what appeared to be cell phone video. Suddenly, Curt Hennig’s face appeared in the frame, and he said, “Here we are, in Cincinnati. Rick and I flew in earlier today, and we’re gonna surprise our friend at the gym. He’s been busting his butt for weeks now, and we’re gonna let him know how much the Horsemen miss him!”
Hennig and Rude wandered through a gym, passing by a few surprised muscleheads, before finding the ‘Loose Cannon” at a squat rack. Pillman was shocked to see them, and he hugged his allies. The three men stood back, as if in mutual admiration of each other…
...and then, Rude leveled Pillman with a clothesline.
Hennig tossed the phone to a bystander, paralyzed in shock, and yelled, “Keep it pointed here!” The champions continued the beatdown for several seconds, punching and kicking the defiant but outnumbered Pillman. After what seemed like an eternity to the man with the phone, Rude walked over, grabbed the phone, and said, “The Horsemen are only as strong as their weakest link. Brian Pillman was wounded. He’s our weak link. Well… he was.”
The connection went dead, and then the scene switched back to the MLW broadcast table, where Styles – for once – was stunned speechless. Dillon laughed, and held up four fingers. “There’s a reason why we never called ourselves the Five Horsemen, Styles. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to accompany my men to the ring.”
TULLY BLANCHARD and ARN ANDERSON vs. JEFF JARRETT and ELIAS SAMSON:
vs.
vs.
The “other” Horsemen – former three-time World champions in their own right – met Dillon on the ramp, and the three slowly walked to the ring, shrugging their shoulders as if indicating they did nothing wrong. The boos rained down on them as they stepped through the ropes, and they joked among themselves as the guitar-wielding duo of Jarrett and Samson were introduced.
This was an old-school, Southern-styled tilt, with the Horsemen isolating Elias from his partner. They cut the ring in half, distracted the referee at will, and utilized the five-count to perfection. The conniving manager on the outside did his part as well. A hot tag to Jarrett turned the tide, but it was too little too late; once Blanchard and Anderson seized the advantage on him, Elias was unable to recover in time to help. “Double-A” finished off the “Chosen One” with a brutal spinebuster at 10:30, earning the victory for his crew.
They left, and as Samson and Jarrett commiserated in the ring, the now-familiar trio of Orton, Orndorff, and Piper returned to ringside – and this time, the “Rowdy Scot” had a microphone in his hand.
Piper: “I just came down here to say… thank you, Jeff. From the bottom of my heart, I just gotta say, thank you. You see, after I won Battlebowl, while I tried to figure out what championship I was gonna win, I had my lawyers look at the fine print. And would you believe what they found! Y’see, Jeff, when you drew up those Battlebowl and Lethal Lottery rules and such, you told us all that the winner would get the title shot of his choice. But my people told me different. And when I got to the arena today, I showed the contract to Commissioner Norris, and he agrees with me, too.”
“I don’t have to pick one champion. I get to fight them all!”
COMMERCIAL
Styles: “Oh. My. God! Fans, we’ve just learned over the commercial break that the ‘Hot Rod’, Roddy Piper, has earned himself not one, not two, but four separate championship matches over the coming weeks and months right here in MLW. Who will he face? When will he face them? We don’t have those answers tonight, but right now, we do have the evening's main event – so here we go, take it away, Howard Finkel!”
MLW INTERCONTINENTAL TAG-TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
The ADDICTION vs. the HEROES OF THE REPUBLIC (c):
vs.
The ADDICTION vs. the HEROES OF THE REPUBLIC (c):
vs.
Daniels and Kazarian entered the ring first as decided underdogs; Koloff and Rusev acted if they owned the ring. Big-time match intros from Finkel for this one, and the “Russian Nightmare” and the “Fallen Angel” got the action underway for their respective teams. Koloff overpowered his foe from the opening bell, tossing him around like a ragdoll. Kaz tagged in, but fared no better, and he was suplexed and slammed by both Koloff and “the Brute”.
However, the Addiction kept bouncing back up. It took several minutes, but they finally built some momentum. They used unimaginable double-team maneuvers to confuse and weaken Rusev, scoring several near-falls in the process. He paced back and forth on the ring apron, while his opponents wore down Rusev in their corner. Kicks, strikes, and various aerial assaults had the crowd on its feet, but to the audience’s chagrin, the champion was also on his.
He leveled Daniels with a wicked Machka kick, and staggered into his corner. Koloff eagerly took the tag, and went after the Addiction with rage in his eyes. Heavy right hands and clotheslines floored both men, and he tossed Kaz over the top rope. He kept the pressure on Daniels, and the referee had to pull him off his downed foe at one point, threatening the sneering Russian with a disqualification.
The expression slowly left his face when “Ironman” blared from the arena speakers, and Hawk and Animal walked through the curtain.
Rusev immediately jumped down from the apron and stood at the base of the ramp, shouting at the Road Warriors, daring them to come down. In doing so, though, he never saw the “Heavy Metal Rebel” get back into the fray, and hit Koloff with a high-crossbody block from the top turnbuckle, while Daniels schoolboyed him, taking the bewildered Russian off his feet. The savvy veteran may or may not have had a handful of tights, but he rolled up the NWA icon from behind and held on with every bit of strength left in his wiry frame.
One, two, and three – it was a huge upset, aided in part by the presence of the mighty Legion of Doom… but a victory nonetheless. The Russians fumed, paralyzed, unable to decide whether to attack the Addiction or to rush up the ramp. The Addiction quickly rolled out of the ring to claim their reward, and they celebrated with the Intercontinental Tag-Team belts held high as the show faded to black.