Journey to Greatness
Saturday, May 31, 2014
From the Moncton Coliseum in Moncton, New Brunswick
Part 1 of 2
“Summer Dress” by July Talk (of Toronto, Ontario), from the album July Talk (2013)
Tonight’s Broadcast Features the Ringside Commentary Teams of
Ed Whalen and Lord Alfred Hayes (English)
Marc Blondin and Jacques Rougeau (Français)
***
Lance Storm & Tyson Kidd vs. The Mountie & Blue Blazer
These men have been feuding on and off for over half a year now. Their history goes back to the Blue Blazer’s debut, when he accused Lance Storm and then later Tyson Kidd of theft. The vigilante later revealed that he had a crime fighting ally in The Mountie. Together, they’ve even kidnapped or arrested – depending on how you choose to view it – Storm and Kidd for their crimes. Both men were freed from captivity by Owen Hart. However, the latest twist in this long, drawn out feud has seen the Blue Blazer’s identity revealed as Storm and Kidd’s fellow Calgarian, Owen Hart, himself, by the only man who has seen the Blue Blazer without a mask on (The Hurricane). Hart has also increasingly caused Storm and Kidd grief recently. Will Storm and Kidd finally find out who their long-standing arch nemesis is?
Before the opening bell rings, Tyson Kidd starts things off with a running somersault plancha on the Blue Blazer! Moments later, The Mountie gets taken out by a springboard clothesline from the ring to the floor by Lance Storm! A brief fight around ringside ends with Storm and Kidd trying to unmask the Blue Blazer only to come up short when The Mountie stuns them both with his cattle prod! The referee confiscates the weapon and scolds AGPW’s only true uniformed law enforcement officer. The Mountie takes Tyson Kidd into the ring and goes to work on him and the match officially begins. The Mountie and Blue Blazer take turns wearing down Kidd, while Storm is on the floor, slowly recovering from being stunned. Multiple double teams lead to several nearfalls on Kidd, but he is tenacious and refuses to lose. The Mountie places him on the top turnbuckle and tags in the Blue Blazer. They both go to the corner and try to climb up for a double superplex, but Kidd fights them both off and gets out of trouble for a short moment by executing the Code Blue (blockbuster) on The Mountie! However, he’s in no condition to capitalize on it and the Blue Blazer decides to go for a moonsault, but Kidd gets his knees up! Kidd starts to crawl towards his corner. The Mountie grabs him by the foot, but Kidd fights him off with a reverse enziguri kick and then makes the hot tag to Storm, who enters the ring by giving the Blue Blazer a springboard dropkick! Storm goes to town on both of his opponents. He dumps The Mountie out of the ring with a clothesline and then goes for a superkick on the Blue Blazer, but he blocks it, and gives Storm a few dragon screw leg whips followed by the sharpshooter! Kidd breaks it up with a dropkick between the shoulderblades! The Mounties rushes to attack him and Kidd leaps up for a hurricanrana. The Mountie catches and takes him to the ropes to powerbomb him outside, but Kidd takes him out to the floor with him by completing the hurricanrana! Back in the ring, Storm and the Blue Blazer trade chops. Storm goes for a whip, but the Blazer reverses it and gives Storm an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. After a side Russian legsweep, Hart attempts to apply the sharpshooter one more time, but Storm pulls him to the mat into a small package pin. 1…2… kick out! Blue Blazer goes for an enziguri kick, but Storm ducks it, then drops his elbow into Hart’s lower back before applying a crossface crippler! Hart struggles in the move but makes it to the ropes. Storm waits for him to get up and goes for the superkick. Hart ducks and rolls to avoid it. However, after he pops up and turns around, he takes one on the chin! Storm puts the Blue Blazer in the sharpshooter. He tries to make it over to the ropes and gets close, but then Storm drags him back to the centre of the ring. The Mountie tries to slide into the ring to break it up, but Kidd grabs him by the leg and brings him back out to the floor, where he gives The Mountie an exploder suplex! The Blue Blazer is forced to tap! Lance Storm and Tyson Kidd and declared the winners.
As soon as the match is won, Storm goes for the Blazer’s mask. He tries his best to resist, but Kidd comes to help him and they succeed to pull the mask off of him. To no one’s surprise, it is Owen Hart!
Storm and Kidd ask him why he’s gone to all of this trouble to deceive them and cause them so much grief and he complains about them being thieves for stealing his finishing move – the Hart Family’s sharpshooter! It’s his move and he didn’t give them permission to use it. Then he looks to The Mountie and tells him to attack. However, The Mountie appears to be the only guy in the arena who is sincerely surprised that it is Hart and hasn’t forgotten his recent trials with Hart, so he abandons him to deal with Storm and Kidd on his own. Hart decides to leave the ring and attack The Mountie from behind. Storm and Kidd come to The Mountie’s aid and after he recovers, The Mountie gets his cattle prod back and finishes the segment off by blasting Owen Hart with it, much to the delight of the crowd!
Official Decision: Lance Storm & Tyson Kidd win by submission
***
We now go to SoCal Val who is with “Marvelous” Marc Mero to ask him whether he could have ever anticipated that his open challenge would be answered by Chris Jericho. Mero tells her that he most certainly didn’t see that coming. However, while Jericho might be able to surprise him, he most certainly can’t beat him. He knows that the odds makers and the wrestling beat writers favour Chris Jericho, but they’re all blinded by the novelty of his ‘surprise debut’ which masks the golden truth, which is that Jericho isn’t a wrestler that can marvel the fans quite the same way that the “Marvelous” one can. When all is said and done, come the end of the night, “Marvelous” Marc Mero will be starting off his second year in AGPW right and Chris Jericho will be going home never to be seen again, destroyed by Mero’s marvelocity and crippled by the embarrassment of being the overwhelming odds on favourite who will have failed so monumentally that it’ll make Scott Steiner’s 2003 WWE debut seem like a resounding success! “Marvelous” Marc Mero faces Chris Jericho in his AGPW debut later in the evening!
***
Switching scenes, we go to Jeremy Borash who is standing by with Gail Kim. She is set to challenge Trish Stratus for the Women’s Championship as one of two challengers in tonight’s Women’s Championship Triple Threat match. Borash asks Kim why she believes that she will be able to beat Trish Stratus for the title in her second title shot in consecutive pay-per-view events. Kim tells him that things will be much different tonight. Although she won’t have Chyna by her side, she won’t need her friend to be there because Awesome Kong won’t be there to watch the champion’s back. With Awesome Kong out of the picture, Stratus must try to retain the title without help from anyone. According to Kim, that changes everything because Stratus hasn’t shown an ability to do anything on her own since the moment she first stepped foot in AGPW. Truthfully, Stratus isn’t the biggest obstacle in her path to getting the title, tonight. Instead, she says that Fabulous Moolah is. Moolah is undefeated and has even beaten her once before in the ring. However, she’s study the tape of that match and has learned her mistakes. Kim says that she has adapted and devised a new game plan. She’ll be ready for Moolah. Nothing will stop her from winning the Women’s Championship, tonight!
***
Cesaro vs. Magnus w/ Maryse Ouellet
Cesaro and Magnus were a tag team for nearly an entire year. However, a recent losing streak, which was caused by some errors in executing some moves as well as some communication problems. All of the team’s problems were blamed on Cesaro. When the blame was placed on him, Cesaro refused to accept full responsibility and turned his back on Magnus and Maryse. As a consequence, they attacked him. They attacked him a second time when they offered him the opportunity to apologize for turning his back on them on. After that, this grudge match was signed.
The match begins with both Magnus and Maryse jacking their jaws at Cesaro. For his part, Cesaro maintains his composure. He simply flashes back a grin at them and tells Magnus to bring it. However, Magnus won’t bite and so the head games don’t lead to a mistake from either guy. Instead, they simply lock up in a normal grapple to begin the action. The early minutes of the match see both men trade headlocks, armbars and other holds. It’s a feeling out process. Both men know each other well as long-time former teammates. They know each other’s tendencies, but they are first time opponents. So they are both careful to begin the match. They’re each looking for a soft spot to exploit (or to open one up). Nothing consequential results from their early exchange of holds as it eventually leads to a stalemate. They end up breaking. Magnus takes a moment to talk strategy with Maryse and then they begin the match all over again. This time, the pace picks up considerably as a side headlock from Magnus is broken when Cesaro backs into the ropes and pushes him off. For the next minute, the running game is featured prominently. There are ducked clotheslines, leap frogs and successful arm drags mixed into the action, in addition to a dropkick attempt that Magnus avoids by clinging onto the ropes. He tries to ambush Cesaro with a running clothesline as he gets up, but Cesaro displays some excellent quickness by ducking it, then taking Magnus down with a dropkick. Magnus gets up near the ropes and this time he drops in front of a clothesline attempt and lifts Cesaro over the top rope. He lands on his feet on the apron, turns Magnus around and gives him a few European uppercuts. Then, he tries to lift Magnus up with a vertical suplex, but he battles to get back to the mat and then brings Cesaro back into the ring with a vertical suplex of his own. Magnus stomps on him a few times, then goes out to climb the turnbuckle. Cesaro gets up and Magnus goes for a missile dropkick, but Cesaro avoids it. He charges at Magnus, who plants him into the mat with a spinning spinebuster! Magnus goes for the first pinfall attempt of the match, but Cesaro kicks out. Magnus gives him an elbow to the back of the neck and a few European uppercuts before whipping him into the corner. Magnus goes for a running big boot, but Cesaro moves out of the way and Magnus gets his foot caught up on the top rope. Cesaro grabs him from behind and launches him with a release German suplex. Then he gives him a running double-foot stomp and covers. Magnus kicks out at two. Cesaro goes to pick him up, but Magnus tackles him into the corner. After giving Cesaro a few chops, he goes for a cross-corner whip, but Cesaro reverses it and follows in with a running clothesline. Cesaro throws some jabs at Magnus’ ribs and then gives him a few European uppercuts before bringing him out of the corner and executing a vertical suplex. He covers for two. Cesaro decides to head up to the top rope. He waits for Magnus to get to his feet and goes for a diving European uppercut. However, Magnus moves to avoid it. When Cesaro gets up, Magnus grabs him and executes a side belly-to-belly suplex. He hooks the leg, but Cesaro kicks out. Now, Magnus slows the pace down by going to a bow and arrow submission hold. Cesaro doesn’t quit and Magnus eventually gives up. He takes Cesaro into the corner and drives his knee into Cesaro’s abdomen a few times. Then he puts Cesaro up on the top rope. He sets up for a superplex with Cesaro in the standing position, but he punches at Magnus’ ribs and counters with a super front-suplex!
Both men are down and get up just in time to beat the referee’s 10-count. They meet in the middle of the ring and trade European uppercuts. They each land some really punishing, stiff shots. Cesaro starts landing some in succession and eventually knocks Magnus down with them. As Magnus tries to get up, Cesaro grabs him in a gutwrench and executes some rolling gutwrench suplexes. He pins, but Magnus just gets a shoulder up! Cesaro straightens his head (or cracks his neck), signalling that he’s going for his finisher. He brings Magnus in for the Neutralizer, but he counters with a back body drop, which Cesaro in turn counters with a sunset flip, which Magnus rolls right out and finishes the chain off by blasting Cesaro in the face with a dropkick. Maryse tells him to go for the finish. He lifts Cesaro onto his shoulders to set up for the Tormentum, but Cesaro gets down. Magnus turns around and Cesaro gives him a double legsweep takedown, which he transitions right into the Cesaro Swing! The crowd counts along – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20! Cesaro is ready to go for the finish. He goes to picks up Magnus, but both he and the referee see Maryse climb onto the ring apron. The distraction leads the referee to push Cesaro back as Maryse talks trash. However, the referee can’t hold him back, but he walks right into a hand slap. Then, the referee gets into an argument with Maryse. She grabs him by the neck collar to plead whatever case she’s trying to plead as Cesaro receives a jumping side kick and a swinging side slam from a 300-pound brute of a man! When Maryse lets go of the referee, he turns to see Magnus picking up Cesaro and executing the Tormentum. He pins. 1…2…3!
Following the match, the large brute re-enters the ring and upon the instruction of Maryse stomps down hard on Cesaro’s back and then locks on a devastating looking camel clutch for nearly half a minute. The referee tries to pull him off of Cesaro, but cannot move this warrior. He only releases the hold when Maryse tells him to. He maintains an intense, serious look about him the entire time, even as he leaves the ring with Maryse and the victorious Magnus.
Official Decision: Magnus wins by pinfall
***
Coming Up in June 2014!BCCWproudly presents...
** War Games Match for Control of Broken City Championship Wrestling!! **
Team BCCW
(feat: John Cena / Andre the Giant / Matt Morgan / Sheamus...)
versus
Illuminati
(feat: Hogan, HHH, Flair, Jeff Jarrett and Arn Anderson!!)
** Winner Take All - Loser Leaves Town FOREVER!! **
Umaga (2008) vs Masato Tanaka (1998)
(Xtreme Rulez Bout)
** Middleweight Championship **
Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat © vs Gus Sonnenberg
(2 out of 3 Falls Match)
Bray Wyatt (2015) versus William Muldoon (1887)
(First Blood Match)
Eddie Guerrero (2004) vs Alberto Del Rio (2014)
(Submission Only Match)
** and much much more!! **
only on the
Mash-Up Wrestling Network ***
Last Woman Standing Match
Chyna vs. Awesome Kong w/ “Classy” Freddie Blassie
This Last Woman Standing Match has been a few months in the making. However, this isn’t the first time that these women have faced each other. Awesome Kong and Chyna first competed against one another in a match to earn an AGPW contract. Awesome Kong would win that match. However, Chyna would not disappear. She stuck around to help Gail Kim even the nearly unsurmountable odds she faced in her efforts to gain the Women’s Championship from Trish Stratus. Kong and Chyna would clash numerous times while backing up Stratus and Kim, respectively. They would also battle in a tag team match that included Stratus and Kim. The final straw came when Awesome Kong brutally attacked Chyna a few weeks ago and challenged her to this very match. Now, the stage is set for what might possibly be the most violent wrestling match in female professional wrestling history.
The fight begins during the first ring entrance. The Ninth Wonder of the World, Chyna, is coming down to the ring and Awesome Kong attacks her in the entrance aisle. With “Classy” Freddie Blassie giving Kong directions and offering words of encouragement, she really gives it to Chyna, even giving her a vertical suplex on the bare floor! When they get near ringside, Kong slams her into the guardrail and whips her into the ringsteps. Then, taking a page from out of the BCCW playbook, Kong sends Chyna over the guardrail and takes the fight to her all around the arena floor. She eventually brings the fight back to ringside and tosses Chyna into the ring. Then, Kong goes digging underneath the ring and pulls out a table. She places it in the ring, then climbs onto the ring apron. It took her longer than expected to get a table, which allowed Chyna to recover enough to get her first offensive attack into the match. Chyna knocks Kong to the floor with a running forearm smash. After that, she hits Kong with a baseball slide kick that sends her crashing into the guardrail. Chyna follows that up with a whip that sends Kong crashing into the ringsteps. Blassie threatens to get involved, wielding his cane as a weapon. A brief encounter between the two ends with Blassie backing off as Chyna decides to face him head on. She walks towards him and successfully calls his bluff. She goes back to pick up Kong, who then shoves her into the guardrail. Kong sets up for a powerbomb, but Chyna counters with a back body drop on the floor! There is maybe no other woman in wrestling who could do that Awesome Kong. Chyna rolls Kong into the ring and continues to brawl with her in the ring. When she gets Kong into the corner, Chyna goes to the opposite corner and runs across the ring with a back handspring elbow attempt, but Kong catches her and executes a blue thunder bomb instead! Kong sets up her table and, after clubbing Chyna a few more times, places her on the table. Kong heads up to the top rope and goes for an Awesome Splash, but Chyna rolls off of the table and Kong splashes right through the table!
Both women are down and get up at the same time. They trade blows. Kong tries to whip Chyna, but she reverses it and gives Kong a powerslam! Chyna goes outside and brings three chairs into the ring. As Kong gets up to beat the referee’s standing 10-count, Chyna hits her across the back with a chair, then throws it on the ground and gives Kong a DDT onto the chair. Chyna opens the other two chairs up and places them facing each other. When she sees Kong getting up, she attacks, brings her over near the chairs and attempts to give her a vertical suplex, but Kong won’t go up and she counters it with a sit-out front suplex that sees Chyna’s front side come crashing down onto the opened steel chair seats! Next, Kong lifts Chyna up in the air with a gorilla press and slams her down through the two open chairs! Kong waits for the referee to count Chyna down for ten seconds, but Chyna gets up in the nick of time, so Kong runs over and gives her a knee to the side of the head, then throws her out of the ring, through the ropes. Kong and Chyna brawl around ringside some more, trading the advantage. Each woman gets slammed up against the guardrail. Kong gets tossed into some ringsteps and they get dislodged. The fight is wild and at one point a cut is opened up above Chyna’s eye after having her face slams into the ringpost. Later, she opens up Kong with some kendo stick shots. As the brawl winds down, we see Chyna threaten to end the match. She is setting up the dislodged ringsteps near the side of the ring, but when she goes to pick up Kong, she gets lifted up and driven into the ringpost, sandwiched between it and Kong. After ramming Chyna’s back into the ringpost a few times, Kong looks for another table and decides to open it up above the ringsteps that Chyna was working on. She takes Chyna onto the ring apron and gets ready to execute the Awesome Bomb. The crowd rises in anticipation, but Chyna pulls manages to drop to her knees and give Kong a low blow. She gets up, hooks her arms and performs a pedigree through the table and onto the ringsteps! Both women are down, but Chyna manages to get up just in time to beat out the referee’s standing 10-count. Awesome Kong, however, can’t answer the count, as she’s knocked out cold! The winner of this match is the Ninth Wonder of the World, Chyna!
Official Decision: Chyna wins by knockout
***
Be Prepared and BO the distance!
***
Jeremy Borash is standing by with the Fabulous Moolah to ask her why she believes that she will win tonight’s Women’s Championship Triple Threat match against Trish Stratus and Gail Kim. Moolah responds by telling him that she’s win the match because she’s the best female wrestler in the world. There have been none better than her and there never will be. She says that this new generation of wrestlers may have some new tricks in their playbooks, but they lack the some fire, grit and determination that every woman of her generation possesses, and those are the very qualities that puts her head and shoulders about the rest. Finally, she says that after she wins the title tonight, don’t expect her to relinquish it for the next couple of decades at least. You can take that Moolah promise all the way to bank!
***
North American Tag Team Title Match
Leo Burke & Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. “Killer” Karl Krupp & “The Acadian Giant” Kurrgan
There is no history between these two teams to tell you about. Leo Burke and Rowdy Roddy Piper recently won the North American Tag Team Titles in a match against the former champions, Bad Influence. This is their first title defence since winning the titles about a month ago. They are facing the team of “Killer” Karl Krupp and “The Acadian Giant” Kurrgan, who won the right to compete in this match in a fatal fourway number one contender’s match. Krupp and Kurrgan have been very tough to beat as of late and have their first opportunity to become tag team champions.
The match begins with Krupp overpowering Piper and backing him into a corner. Upon a mandatory break of the grapple by the referee, Piper takes over with a mix of jabs to the body and head. Piper stays in control with some hyperactive brawling in classic “Hot Rod” style. After he tags in Burke, Krupp gets out of trouble by countering a back body drop set up with a knee to the face and then a clothesline. Krupp tags out and Kurrgan goes to work on Burke. His offense is slow and methodical. There is nothing fancy about it, but it gets the job done. Kurrgan is powerful and his offence is nothing if not punishing. Frequent tags are made and Burke takes quite a beating here in front of his hometown fans. They are solidly behind him and try to help him rally by clapping, stomping their feet and chanting his name. Anything to get him going, but the maniacal German and the other hometown boy (from just down the road in Shediac), “The Acadian Giant,” won’t give him any opportunities. It is actually when Kurrgan goes to apply the Kurrgan Claw that Burke’s fortunes turn from bad to good. Kurrgan slaps it on, which earns a pop from the crowd (the claw has always been a popular move in the Maritime region). Rowdy Roddy Piper enters the ring and clips him behind the knee with a chopblock. Krupp charges into the ring, but gets dropkicked by Piper. He’s forced back out of the ring. Kurrgan still gets up before Burke moves, but he is now limping. He goes to pick up Burke, but he kicks at Kurrgan’s knee and takes him down with drop toehold. Then, he applies a half-crab. Kurrgan is still powerful enough to crawl to his corner and make the tag. Burke breaks the hold and lifts Krupp high into the air with a big back body drop as the Killer charges towards him. Burke then knocks him down one more time with a running clothesline and finally tags in Piper. He comes in and drops Krupp with a few running clotheslines. He backs Krupp into the corner with some knife-edge chops, then mounts the second turnbuckle and punches away at him. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10! He takes him out of the corner with a snapmare and then gives him a spinal tap kick. He covers, but Krupp gets a shoulder up after the referee counts two. Piper picks up Krupp and goes for an Irish whip, but Krupp reverses it. He charges into the corner, but Piper gets out of the way and Krupp’s avalanche splash hits the turnbuckle. Then, Piper gives him a bulldog and pins. 1…2… Kurrgan breaks it up! Burke charges at Kurrgan, but gets a big boot to the face. Piper tries to spar with Kurrgan, but he will take none of it and simply slaps his huge hand around Piper’s neck, then takes him high into the air and down into the mat with a chokeslam! Krupp goes for the Iron Claw, but before he can force the submission, Burke punt kicks him to break it up! Kurrgan goes for a running clothesline, but Burke ducks it, then dropkicks him over the ropes. Next, he takes him out and sends him crashing into the guardrail with a suicide dive! Piper and Krupp get up and trade blows. Piper goes for a suplex, but Krupp blocks it and gives him one of his own. He decides to go up to the second rope and tries for a diving knee drop, but Piper rolls out the way. Burke gets back on the ring apron and Piper goes over to make the tag. Burke immediately climbs the turnbuckle and as soon as Krupp gets to his feet, he flies off and hits him with a diving clothesline! Burke picks him up and executes a bridging German suplex! 1…2… kick out! Burke stands near the ropes and waits for Krupp to get up. He appears to be setting up for something, but Kurrgan is behind him on the ring apron, turns Burke around and puts the Kurrgan Claw on him again. Burke breaks free almost instantly by kicking at Kurrgan’s weak knee. Then he moves aside as Krupp charges over and mistakenly bumps into his partner, knocking him down to the floor. Burke gets behind a dazed Krupp and slaps on the sleeperhold. Krupp’s hand goes down three times. The fans erupt in cheers as Leo Burke and Rowdy Roddy Piper retain the North American Tag Team Championship Titles!
Official Decision: Leo Burke & Rowdy Roddy Piper win by submission
***
Frenchy Martin joins Jeremy Borash for what might be his last promo in AGPW. However, he assures us that it will not be the last time he speaks to Borash or the AGPW fans. The Montréal Mafia is more sure of itself and its ability to dominate the competition here AGPW than ever before. Yes, it may not hold all of the riches and prizes that AGPW has to offer like it once did, but losing the North American Tag Team Titles and the International Heavyweight Title has sparked a renewed sense of determination that the faction was sorely lacking earlier in the year. And being the target of Californiacation’s aggression has angered it. That was a mistake on Californiacation’s part. You do not want to anger the Mafia, let alone that features lions, mad dogs, Japanese killing machines and the strongest man Canada has ever seen! This group is hungry and it is out for blood. It is bound and determined to send the beach bums packing back to California where they belong and then resume its rightful place atop of the AGPW food chain!
***
“Classy” Freddie Blassie joins SoCal Val for what might be his last promo in AGPW. However, like Frenchy Martin did to Jeremy Borash, he assures Val that will not be the case. Blassie insists that Californiacation, the AGPW representative agents of Vince McMahon Jr.’s evil Illuminati, is more powerful than anything seen before it in professional wrestling. The group’s influence is bad, its mystique is bizarre and it loaded to the brim with superstars. This is the group that will bring AGPW to its knees and deliver it into the hands of the Illuminati. The process of Californiacating everything north of the 49th parallel will take a huge step forward once the Montréal Mafia is banished from AGPW. With it gone, there will be no other organized group that can stand up it and every other wrestler will be forced to make a choice – sign your career over to the McMahon Family or be forced to walk the plank. Tonight, Californiacation will do what governments and law enforcement agencies have never been able to do and that is to make the Mafia extinct. A new day is dawning in AGPW. The clouds are parting and the warm California Sun is about to shine down on AGPW for a long time to come!
***
Losers Leave Town
8-Man Elimination Tag Team Match
Montréal Mafia w/ Frenchy Martin vs. Californiacation w/ “Classy” Freddie Blassie
There’s a big time fight feel to this match, similar to the classic 2001 WWF vs. Alliance Survivor Series (in the sense that it is a Losers Leave Town match). The town biggest heel factions in Canada are battling out for supremacy as both sides have determined that AGPW is no longer big enough for the both of them. For the Montréal Mafia, this match is about the family surviving a hostile takeover attempt. According to them, they run this territory. There was once some truth in that statement as all of the gold in AGPW was in its possession for most of the winter. For Californiacation, this match is about eliminating what it views as its largest hurdle towards achieving its goal of putting AGPW out of business whether by rotting it from the inside-out or weakening its value to the point that AGPW owner Emile Duprée would have no choice but to sell his company and territory to Vince McMahon Jr.
It takes quite a while for the referee to get some semblance of order in this one. “Classy” Freddie Blassie and Frenchy Martin get at each other’s throats as do former International Heavyweight Champion Yvon “Le Lion” Robert and “Superstar” Billy Graham. Both sets of former tag team champions – Christopher Daniels & François Kazarian and Dino Bravo & Mad Dog Vachon – are trading barbs and nearly butt heads, while Tajiri silently paces between them and Goldust crouches in his team’s corner, merely keeping a watchful eye on the events. The referee manages to prevent any large scale dust ups, but it takes him minutes, not seconds, to get nearly everyone out of the ring. With about half of each side removed from the ring, it is Goldust and Tajiri that begin the fight. Bravo, Vachon, Daniels and Kazarian get into it, too. However, Blassie and Martin reign in their men when the referee makes stern threats to disqualify various men, as the stakes are too high to swallow multiple disqualifications, let alone one. Eventually, the match settles into the typical mold of a tag team match with two large opposing sides. Advantages are traded. When one team has the advantage, the other makes frequent tags to keep a fresh man in the ring doling out the damage. First, Tajiri is the victim of a great deal of offense from Californiacation. When the advantage flips over to the other side, it is Daniels that becomes the Montréal Mafia’s punching bag. We’re over 15 minutes into the match before Robert and Graham end up both getting tagged into the ring as each team’s legal man. Their tagged simultaneously and have a short tense cross-ring stare down before they both head to the centre of the ring to fight one another. Robert takes Graham down with a Lou Thesz press. He gives Graham several punishing right hands before getting up and sending Graham into the corner with a hard whip. He charges in, but Graham gets a boot up. Graham tries to strike, but gets dropped into the mat with an arm drag takedown. Robert locks in a grounded armbar, but Graham gets out of the hold rather quickly with some back elbows to the side of Robert’s face. He gets up and lays some chops in on him, then tries to send him across the ring with a whip. Robert reverses it and Graham hits the turnbuckle hard and then slams face-first into the mat. Robert slowly walks over. Graham gets to his knees and begs for mercy, but gets a kick to the face that infuriates Blassie. He decides to climb onto the apron to complain, but Martin comes over and pulls him down. Goldust and Bravo pry their managers apart and take them back to their team’s respective corners, out of fear that they’ll be ejected.
Back in the ring, Robert surprises everyone by sliding out of a rear chinlock and locking Graham in his arm trap headscissors from virtually out of nowhere! Kazarian comes in to break it up. This leads to a melee involving all 8-men. The melee turns into an all-out brawl around ringside. The referee has lost complete control and after everyone has taken a bump into something out on the floor, It is Vachon and Graham who end up back inside of the ring. Graham puts Vachon in a bearhug and he waves his arms to indicate that he gives up. Graham drops him and raises his arms, but the referee doesn’t signal for an elimination because Vachon was not the legal man. Graham argues with him, but that is a mistake as he ends up getting attacked from behind and given the Final Cut by Goldust! Then, he receives a pair of shoot kicks and a brainbuster from Tajiri! As soon as Tajiri gets up, Kazarian lifts him up and executes Fade to Black! Meanwhile, Robert tags in Bravo and he grabs Kazarian and puts him in an airplane spin. Graham tags out to Daniels and he stops the airplane spin by giving Bravo a missile dropkick to the back while he’s spinning! Daniels picks him up and executes Angel’s Wings! He pins. 1…2…3!
Dino Bravo has been eliminated. Mad Dog Vachon attacks Daniels and then sets up for a piledriver, but Daniels counters with a back body drop. After a few more moves, Daniels tags in Kazarian, and together, they executes a slingshot elbow drop and slingshot leg drop combo. Kazarian immediately tags in Goldust, who takes Vachon into the corner and punches him ten times, before tying his legs in the ropes, setting him up for Shattered Dreams. However, Tajiri charges into the ring. Goldust sees him coming and gives him a powerslam! Vachon gets out of the corner and goes for a running clothesline. Goldust ducks it, then takes Vachon down into a backslide for a long 2-count. They trade a few blows and then Vachon sends Goldust into the ropes. Goldust drops down to his back and hits Vachon with an uppercut, then executes the Final Cut on him! He pins. Kazarian and Daniels guard against a break up attempt and
Mad Dog Vachon is eliminated.Now, the Montréal Mafia are down to two members and Californiacation remain at full strength. Californiacation looks extremely confident. However, Tajiri and Robert put on a good fight. Over the next few minutes, while they are at a large 2-to-1 disadvantage, they hang in there. However, soon enough, Tajiri ends up playing the role of Ricky Morton. However, after getting sent into the corner by Kazarian, he moves out of the way and Kazarian hits the turnbuckle. Tajiri then puts him in the tarantula for nearly 5-seconds before breaking it. Then, he executes a springboard swinging headscissors takedown and finally tags out. Robert rushes in and tries to take his head off with a clothesline, but Kazarian ducks it. When he turns around Kazarian tries to go for a spinning heel kick, but Robert catches him and counters it into a backbreaker! He pins, but Daniels stomps on Robert’s back to break it up. A few words are exchanged between the two as the referee pushes Daniels back out of the ring. Kazarian gets up. He tries to throw a punch at Robert, but he blocks it and pulls him into a small package pin for the three count.
Kazarian has been eliminated! Californiacation goes on a brief run of offense on Robert, but he eventually finds a way to tag out. Tajiri takes turns fighting with Goldust and Graham before tagging out again. The next exchange is between Robert and Daniels. They battle back and forth until Robert takes control with a flapjack. He goes for a powerbomb, but Daniels counters it with a hurricanrana. He tags out. Goldust comes in and goes a run, dishing out shots to both Robert and Tajiri. However, after clotheslining Tajiri to the floor, he comes after Robert, who dropkicks his knee, then flips him around into a triangle chokehold. Goldust breaks out of it quickly because they’re too close to the ropes. But then, after the rope break, Robert manages to get Goldust down to the mat with a waistlock takedown and transitions it into his arm-trap headscissors to force a quick tap out!
Goldust has been eliminated. Now, both sides are down to two wrestlers each. Graham attacks Robert as soon as he releases Goldust from the submission hold. He and Daniels go to town on the former International Heavyweight Champion, but he gets some reprieve when he is able to execute a spinebuster on Daniels! He can’t capitalize on it, however, and after regaining some strength, he crawls to his corner to tag in Tajiri. He climbs the turnbuckle and goes for a diving hurricanrana on Daniels, but he counters it with a falling powerbomb! Daniels can do nothing as he too is exhausted. When both men get to their feet they trade chops. Tajiri goes for a whip, but Daniels reverses it. Tajiri hits with a handspring back elbow. Then he waits to give him a buzzsaw kick. He goes for the kick, but Daniels ducks. Then jumps it to take Tajiri down with a falling double-knee facebuster! Daniels covers, but Tajiri just gets a shoulder up. Daniels picks him up and hooks his arms for Angel’s Wings, but Tajiri breaks free and hits him with a savate kick. He picks up Daniels and lifts him into the air to go for a brainbuster, but Daniels flips right over and lands on his feet. Tajiri turns around and Daniels executes a reverse STO and then locks on a Koji clutch! Robert comes into the ring, but so too does Graham, who cuts him off. Tajiri taps out!
Tajiri has been eliminated. Robert flings Graham over the top rope and grabs Daniels from behind in a cobra clutch and launches him across the ring with a cobra clutch suplex! Then, he locks on the arm-trap headscissors to force a submission out of Daniels!
Christopher Daniels has been eliminated. And, now, the fate of both factions rests in the hands of their respective leaders, Yvon “Le Lion” Robert and “Superstar” Billy Graham. Robert tells the referee to count Graham out and he starts his count. When Graham gets up and tries to enter the ring, Robert hits him with a baseball slide. He smacks Graham’s face off of the ring apron and then whips him into the ringsteps. Robert starts to rip up the ringside mats and exposes the floor. He picks up Graham and brings him over the cold, hard arena floor. He tries to lift him for a piledriver, but Graham fights it off and then counters with a back body drop! Graham rolls into the ring and tells the referee to count him out. While the referee is administering his count, Blassie sneaks a pair of brass knuckles in to Graham. Martin sees the exchange and attacks Blassie. They fight out on the floor. Graham breaks up the referee’s count and points out the fight on the floor. With the referee’s focus now on the managers, Graham slips on the brassknuckles. When Robert slowly climbs back into the ring, Graham goes for a haymaker, but Robert side steps it and takes him down into the arm trap headscissors. Graham manages to reach the ropes and screams for the official. He comes over and calls for the rope break. Graham removes the knuckles and lays them on the mat. He gets up, holding his jaw and tells the ref to look at the knuckles. He sees them and starts to interrogate Robert. As that is happening, Graham grabs Robert from behind and rolls him up. He grabs a handful of tights, but Robert still kicks out just at the last possible moment! Graham questions the referee’s count, then he goes to pick up Robert, who brings him down into a small package that nearly wins the match! When they get up they trade punches and then chops. Robert takes control of the battle and backs Graham into the corner. He pummels away on him until the referee orders a break. As Robert backs out of the corner, with his last burst of energy, Graham runs out and gives him a running knee lift, then pulls him in for a sit-out piledriver! He covers. 1…2…3!
Yvon “Le Lion” Robert has been eliminated! The lone survivor of the match is “Superstar” Billy Graham, representing the team of Californiacation, which means that the Montréal Mafia must leave Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling!
Official Decision: Californiacation wins eliminating each member of the Montréal Mafia
***
Our brief intermission features a live performance by Toronto, Ontario’s July Talk:
“Paper Girl” by July Talk (of Toronto, Ontario), from the album July Talk (2013)
End of Part One
***