Post by fifthhorseman on Aug 18, 2016 23:37:40 GMT -5
We are halfway through the week – it is day four of the Universal Wrestling Federation Tournament of Champions – live from Baton Rouge, Louisiana! Tonight’s action will feature four World Heavyweight bottom bracket matches, three World Trios round-robin bouts, and two Mid-South Junior Heavyweight tournament matches.
The first match of the night featured a clash of personalities in the World Heavyweight division, and Dalton Castle continued his improbable march to the title by pinning Eddie Gilbert at 11:38 with his “Bang-A-Rang” facebuster. Both men were fatigued from their matches the night before against much heavier opponents, but they brought their A-games in a Southern-styled mat battle. However, “Hot Stuff” didn’t have enough in the tank to hang with Castle on this night, and a variety of suplexes set him up for the finish.
Speaking of clashes, the next match placed Terry Gordy and Stan Hansen in opposite corners. Both men, former World champions in their own right, let the fists fly from the opening bell. They pushed the patience of the referee with their brutality, unleashing several late punches, clotheslines, kicks, and throws, and the action spilled outside often. 19 minutes in, “Bamm Bamm” slammed “the Lariat’s” head into the ringpost outside, immediately drawing blood; in retaliation, and as if he didn’t even feel it, Hansen did the same to Gordy. They continued their bloody brawl, and the official had no choice but to call for the double-countout.
In the first World Trios bout of the evening, the Midnight Express defeated the Castoffs at 12:19 when Booby Eaton pinned Marty Jannetty with a top-rope legdrop. The Castoffs demonstrated that they were capable of hanging with any team in the UWF, but the peerless chemistry of Condrey, Lane, and Eaton – aided by the shrewd leadership of Jim Cornette – enabled the Express to offset the size advantage on the other side. Neidhart almost submitted Condrey midway through the bout, but coulda-woulda-shoulda…
Jack Swagger defeated Monty Brown at 15:30 by submission with the “Patriot Lock”. This was a match filled with high-impact maneuvers; both men combined size with freakish athleticism, and they were launching each other all over the ring. Brown took charge near the end of the match, hitting the “Pounce” shoulder-tackle, but the “All-American American” kicked out at 2.99. In disgust, the “Alpha Male” threw Swagger into the ropes for a second one, but it was countered by a gutwrench powerbomb, followed by the ankle lock.
The fifth match of the night – and the first Junior Heavyweight bout – seemed to take place above the mat, as Rich Swann pinned Chris Candido at 13:55 with a standing 450 splash. Candido sought to use his 40-pound weight advantage on his foe, muscling Swann to the top rope and throwing him back down. However, Swann’s uncanny agility enabled him to eventually evade those back-smashing moves, and he knocked Candido down with numerous kicks before finishing him with the splash.
The Fabulous Freebirds defeated the Motor City Timesplitters at 18:07 when Buddy Roberts pinned Alex Shelley with a small package (and a handful of tights). The trio of Shelley, Sabin, and Kushida laid out a battle-plan and implemented it to near-perfection: isolating the stitched-up and bandaged Gordy and exhausting him with speedy tags. Luckily for him, the veterans Hayes and Roberts broke enough counts and ate up just enough ring time to survive their hardest-fought contest in the round-robin tournament thus far.
In the seventh match, the final World Heavyweight battle of the evening, Manny Fernandez pinned Joseph Hennig after a running high knee in the corner at 10:49. The “Raging Bull” was clearly angry at being delegated to the bottom bracket, and he attacked Hennig before he even entered the ring. Nonetheless, the third-generation athlete gradually fought back, and took control later in the contest with dropkicks, clotheslines, and chops. Towards the end, though, Fernandez loosened a turnbuckle and fired Hennig into it, back-first. The running knee immediately followed, and Hennig could not kick out in time.
Roderick Strong defeated Kyle O’Reilly at 19:23 with a double-knee gutbuster. Familiar foes, the two shook hands at the beginning of the match. O’Reilly was seconded (and thirded) by his reDragon teammates Fish and Quackenbush, and to their credit, neither interfered in the bout at all. This was a see-saw battle, with dozens of kicks and attempted submission maneuvers, along with chops and elbows. The referee had to work nearly as hard as the wrestlers to keep up. After the match, all four men shook hands.
The main event was a Trios contest between two of the WWF’s most dominant teams. Sheer power against a well-rounded team with attitude to spare: Ax, Smash, and Crush vs. Jesse James, Billy Gunn, and Chuck Palumbo. At times, it resembled a tornado match, and the six men had to be constantly separated. Fifteen minutes in, it looked like the Outlaws had it won, when Gunn hit Ax with the “Fameasser”, but it was not to be as yet another brawl broke out. It ended a minute later – at 16:33 – when Smash and Crush hit Palumbo with a double-chokeslam, enabling Demolition to get the duke over the Newer Age Outlaws.
The first match of the night featured a clash of personalities in the World Heavyweight division, and Dalton Castle continued his improbable march to the title by pinning Eddie Gilbert at 11:38 with his “Bang-A-Rang” facebuster. Both men were fatigued from their matches the night before against much heavier opponents, but they brought their A-games in a Southern-styled mat battle. However, “Hot Stuff” didn’t have enough in the tank to hang with Castle on this night, and a variety of suplexes set him up for the finish.
Speaking of clashes, the next match placed Terry Gordy and Stan Hansen in opposite corners. Both men, former World champions in their own right, let the fists fly from the opening bell. They pushed the patience of the referee with their brutality, unleashing several late punches, clotheslines, kicks, and throws, and the action spilled outside often. 19 minutes in, “Bamm Bamm” slammed “the Lariat’s” head into the ringpost outside, immediately drawing blood; in retaliation, and as if he didn’t even feel it, Hansen did the same to Gordy. They continued their bloody brawl, and the official had no choice but to call for the double-countout.
In the first World Trios bout of the evening, the Midnight Express defeated the Castoffs at 12:19 when Booby Eaton pinned Marty Jannetty with a top-rope legdrop. The Castoffs demonstrated that they were capable of hanging with any team in the UWF, but the peerless chemistry of Condrey, Lane, and Eaton – aided by the shrewd leadership of Jim Cornette – enabled the Express to offset the size advantage on the other side. Neidhart almost submitted Condrey midway through the bout, but coulda-woulda-shoulda…
Jack Swagger defeated Monty Brown at 15:30 by submission with the “Patriot Lock”. This was a match filled with high-impact maneuvers; both men combined size with freakish athleticism, and they were launching each other all over the ring. Brown took charge near the end of the match, hitting the “Pounce” shoulder-tackle, but the “All-American American” kicked out at 2.99. In disgust, the “Alpha Male” threw Swagger into the ropes for a second one, but it was countered by a gutwrench powerbomb, followed by the ankle lock.
The fifth match of the night – and the first Junior Heavyweight bout – seemed to take place above the mat, as Rich Swann pinned Chris Candido at 13:55 with a standing 450 splash. Candido sought to use his 40-pound weight advantage on his foe, muscling Swann to the top rope and throwing him back down. However, Swann’s uncanny agility enabled him to eventually evade those back-smashing moves, and he knocked Candido down with numerous kicks before finishing him with the splash.
The Fabulous Freebirds defeated the Motor City Timesplitters at 18:07 when Buddy Roberts pinned Alex Shelley with a small package (and a handful of tights). The trio of Shelley, Sabin, and Kushida laid out a battle-plan and implemented it to near-perfection: isolating the stitched-up and bandaged Gordy and exhausting him with speedy tags. Luckily for him, the veterans Hayes and Roberts broke enough counts and ate up just enough ring time to survive their hardest-fought contest in the round-robin tournament thus far.
In the seventh match, the final World Heavyweight battle of the evening, Manny Fernandez pinned Joseph Hennig after a running high knee in the corner at 10:49. The “Raging Bull” was clearly angry at being delegated to the bottom bracket, and he attacked Hennig before he even entered the ring. Nonetheless, the third-generation athlete gradually fought back, and took control later in the contest with dropkicks, clotheslines, and chops. Towards the end, though, Fernandez loosened a turnbuckle and fired Hennig into it, back-first. The running knee immediately followed, and Hennig could not kick out in time.
Roderick Strong defeated Kyle O’Reilly at 19:23 with a double-knee gutbuster. Familiar foes, the two shook hands at the beginning of the match. O’Reilly was seconded (and thirded) by his reDragon teammates Fish and Quackenbush, and to their credit, neither interfered in the bout at all. This was a see-saw battle, with dozens of kicks and attempted submission maneuvers, along with chops and elbows. The referee had to work nearly as hard as the wrestlers to keep up. After the match, all four men shook hands.
The main event was a Trios contest between two of the WWF’s most dominant teams. Sheer power against a well-rounded team with attitude to spare: Ax, Smash, and Crush vs. Jesse James, Billy Gunn, and Chuck Palumbo. At times, it resembled a tornado match, and the six men had to be constantly separated. Fifteen minutes in, it looked like the Outlaws had it won, when Gunn hit Ax with the “Fameasser”, but it was not to be as yet another brawl broke out. It ended a minute later – at 16:33 – when Smash and Crush hit Palumbo with a double-chokeslam, enabling Demolition to get the duke over the Newer Age Outlaws.