Post by fifthhorseman on Mar 13, 2020 21:53:23 GMT -5
CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING from FLORIDA
EPISODE 3
EPISODE 3
A 60-second video montage showcasing some of the greatest stars that competed in the classic CWF, as well as FCW and NXT, opens the telecast. The clip ended with a still shot of David Von Erich walking away from the ring, while in the background, officials leaned over his injured, beaten brother, Kerry.
As if on cue, to start the show, the “Yellow Rose of Texas” parted the curtain, soaking in the crowd's jeers. He took a microphone from the broadcast station, ignored Lance Russell, and spoke to the crowd from the top of the ramp.
“If you're wondering why I did what I did last week to Kerry – my younger brother, my own flesh and blood – then it's pretty obvious that none of you have a single competitive bone in your sorry-ass bodies! That match was a stepping stone to the CWF Florida Heavyweight championship match next week, and I'd go through Kerry, I'd go through Kevin, my dad, and anyone of you to get there. Because once I'm there, next week, I'm gonna win that belt, and use it to put myself into the hunt for the ultimate prize – the MUW World championship!”
“This isn't the first time I've ever been to Florida, you know. I knew what I was doing the first time I left Texas, and that's why I'm back. To prove to everybody out there that I was, and that I am, the best wrestler going today! So listen up, Jack Brisco, and Buddy Murphy, and Razor Ramon, and everyone else – I'm gonna take you all out, one by one, until Bobby Heenan himself hands me that gold strap. And Kerry, I know you're watching at home... get well soon, brother.”
The sold-out crowd let him have it again, and he smirked as he put the microphone back beside the CWF commentator. Von Erich sneered at the audience as he left, and Russell shook his head in disgust.
Russell: “Hello, everybody, and welcome to Championship Wrestling from Florida! I'm Lance Russell, and in tonight's main event, the CWF Southern Heavyweight championship will be decided in a fatal four-way, Three Stages of Hell match! But that's far from all that's happening, so let's get down to the ring, where Drake Maverick is standing by to announce the competitors in our opening eight-man tag-team contest!”
2MB and the FASHION POLICE vs. the ASCENSION, KEVIN SULLIVAN, and HADE VANSEN:
vs.
As the teams entered the ring, a short clip from last week was shown, where the NXT faces saved Nigel McGuiness from a four-on-one attack by Sullivan and his men – ergo, this match. Breeze, Curtis, Slater, and Bugez tried to push the pace, but they were invariably slowed down by the superior strength, and deviousness, of their foes. Vansen took advantage of a distraction to take out the least experienced man, Bugez, with a spike DDT at 9:34.
After the match, Maverick put a microphone in front of the macabre quartet. Sullivan: “It didn't take long, did it? Three weeks! That's how long it took to assemble another Army... my Army of Darkness. Let me intrroduce myself to the people watchin' at home. I'm Kevin Sullivan, the Taskmaster. The leader of the most devastating coalition of evil in any wrestling territory today. To my left, you see Hade Vansen. From afar, I saw so, so much potential in this young man. He's fast, he's tough... he has the guts to challenge the Undertaker on his very first day! And to my right, Konnor and Viktor, the Ascension. Look at them! Just look! They're back in their element, back here in Florida, and they got something to prove. They will rise, all the way to to the top of the tag-team division.”
“And the Army of Darkness is gonna own CWF. Starting now.”
COMMERCIAL
BLITZKRIEG vs. RAY GORDY (w/Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin):
vs.
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For the people only familiar with Gordy's style working with a brute named Festus, this was an eye-opener. While he wasn't the aerialist Blitzkrieg was – hardly anyone in the world was – he certainly held his own, and it was a very spirited battle. The Freebirds on the outside also helped matters, ultimately affecting the outcome: while Garvin distracted the referee, Hayes shoved Blitzkrieg off the top turnbuckle. Gordy didn't waste a second, and he went to the top, crashing down on his foe with the ATL Jam legdrop.
As Blitzkrieg rolled underneath the bottom rope, Maverick entered the ring to interview the winner – and his colleagues. Gordy: “I'm here where I belong, daddy! When Michael and Jimmy called me up to be a Freebird – no, scratch that, to be the third Freebird, to fill a legend's spot – what else am I gonna say? My dad's busy over in the NWA, kicking ass with 'Dr. Death', and I'm right here in CWF, makin' him proud. We got the tag-team titles, and soon enough, we'll be wearing all the belts, baby!”
After they left, a highlight vignette was shown, featuring two of the wrestlers in the main event. Footage of the former Stampede champion, Larry Cameron, mauling his competition was interspersed with the aerial skills and all-around game of Sonny Siaki, the one-time TNA X-Division titleholder.
COMMERCIAL
Alex Riley and Chris Nowinski strutted around the backstage area in their letterman jackets. Nowinski looked into the camera and said, “Do you think that a battle royale is the true test of a team's abilities? Let me spell it out for you – it's not. When the rest of a mediocre field knows that you're the cream of the crop, they either try to drag you down to their level, or they gang up on you... and that's exactly what happened to us.”
Riley: “We were supposed to face the Natural Born Thrillers tonight, but Mr. Heenan just told us that one of them didn't show up tonight. So we're issuing an open challenge to any team, any two men, willing to step in the squared circle with us. You have... oh, about three minutes to figure it out, boys. We'll be waiting.”
Back at the broadcast table, Russell echoed the Upperclassmen's words. “We're going to give it a couple moments longer, because you know how it works, folks – when someone makes a challenge like that, someone else always answers it. But it's true – we're told that Sean O'Haire had travel issues tonight, and couldn't get to the arena in time. So while we wait for someone to sign a contract back in Bobby Heenan's office, let's show you the other two competitors in tonight's CWF Florida Heavyweight title bout.”
The “second half” of the highlight package was shown, this time featuring Apollo Crews and Brian Pillman. They were strong, they were fast, and perhaps the two most capable of winning the Three Stages of Hell match – if they got to the final fall, which would be settled in a ladder match.
Maverick introduced the cocky Upperclassmen, then he waited for the other team to appear. A few seconds later, Art Barr and Louie Spicolli – a pair of friends looking for any break in CWF – sprinted down the ramp, ready to go.
ART BARR and LOUIE SPICOLLI vs. the UPPERCLASSMEN:
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Nowinski and Riley had the size advantage, but their foes showed them lucha moves early on that they had never seen before – especially the high-flying Barr. It was obvious that the heels severely underestimated Barr and Spicolli, and they regrouped outside the ring. The stalling tactic worked, the momentum changed, and Nowinski eventually laid Spicolli out with his Honor Roll suplex. The match lasted about 12 minutes, and the Upperclassmen continued to put the boots to their foes until the referee threatened to reverse the decision.
After the match, Riley led the interview off by saying, “Jindrak and O'Haire – it's obvious that you two muscleheads were just ducking us this week. Car trouble tonight, what's it going to be next time – you forgot to set your clock ahead an hour? We're on a mission, a mission to get the so-called 'Fabulous' Freebirds in the ring for a title shot – and I'm sure you want the same thing. So let's get it done – if you have the stones to ever get in the ring with us.”
COMMERCIAL
Maverick: “Ladies and gentlemen, the owner and president of Championship Wrestling from Florida... Bobby 'the Brain' Heenan.”
Heenan basked in the attention, but not the adoration, of the audience. He entered the ring and insisted that a single spotlight be directed at him. “Before we get to tonight's main event - a grueling, exhausting Three Stages of Hell match that will test the will and strength of four of CWF's best – I wanted to tell you about next week's match. The match that will determine, beyond a shadow of a doubt, who represents this state and this territory - and me - as the CWF Florida Heavyweight champion.”
“I know what you're thinking. Of course I do – I'm the Brain. Six wrestlers, one title, it has to be an Elimination Chamber match, right? Wrong. That's a match that settles scores, not one that launches promotions. No, next week we're going to crown a champion... in a scramble match. Razor Ramon and David Von Erich are going to start it off, for a full ten minutes. Lots of time to beat the hell out of each other, and if one of them gets a pin or a submission on the other, they're the interim champion!”
“But wait, there's more. At the ten-minute mark, Davey Richards will enter the match; five minutes later, it'll be Nigel McGuinness; five minutes after that, Buddy Murphy; and finally, at the 25-minute mark, the man who had the best time last week in our little 'Beat the Clock' challenge, Jack Brisco will enter the match. The match is gonna go another ten minutes, and whoever scores the last pinfall or submission before the clock expires is going to be my champion.”
“And here's an extra wrinkle, just because. The interim champ – whoever that is – obviously, he's gonna have an advantage. All he has to do is make sure he's the man that scores the last decision. But I don't want him just running out the clock, breaking up pins until the bell sounds. So here's more incentive to be 'the man'. If the interim champion scores a pin or makes someone submit, at any time, he'll eliminate that man from the match! Six men are going to be in this match, that much is true – but I didn't say six men are gonna finish it!”
He signaled for Maverick to take the microphone and said, “Top that, short stuff," and he left the ring.
After Heenan settled into his chair at the broadcast table, Maverick did his job, and the prize was suspended 15 feet above the mat.
THREE STAGES OF HELL
CWF SOUTHERN HEAVYWEIGHTCHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
LARRY CAMERON vs. APOLLO CREWS vs. BRIAN PILLMAN vs. SONNY SIAKI
vs. vs. vs.
CWF SOUTHERN HEAVYWEIGHTCHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
LARRY CAMERON vs. APOLLO CREWS vs. BRIAN PILLMAN vs. SONNY SIAKI
vs. vs. vs.
The first fall was contested under fatal four-way rules, meaning that all four men were “in play” for the duration. It was chaos, as one would expect, and Cameron and Siaki formed a temporary alliance to take on Crews and Pillman. They fought all over the ringside area, unconcerned with conserving their energy, and the referee had a hard time controlling it. But he did, and about eight minutes in, while the Stampede alumni Cameron and Pillman fought on the ramp, the Samoan nailed Crews with the Siaki Drop. The rolling cutter got him the pin, and the cocky heel rolled outside to join the action for the second stage, falls count anywhere.
If anything, the pace increased. Siaki and Cameron ganged up on the “Loose Cannon”, but inevitably, they began fighting with each other. The three men battled in and out of the ring, and the referee dutifully followed, whenever it seemed as if a pin might be made – whether it was the ramp, backstage, or in the crowd. However, the unique stipulation caused one more very temporary friendship to be made – and after Cameron missed a flying clothesline on the stage, Siaki and Pillman both made the pin to eliminate the brawler from Chicago at 17:34.
Cameron skulked off, and the two last men ran back to ringside, where they fought over one of the many ladders stationed in the arena. Heenan was getting more agitated by the second; he didn't start out cheering for anybody in particular, but he did not want Pillman being one of "his" champions. Luckily for the owner, Siaki was wrestling the match of his career. Yet whenever he climbed the ladder to try to seize the championship belt, Pillman was able to stop him.
However, Siaki's relative inexperience cost him. Assuming victory was at hand, he slowly climbed a ladder in the center of the ring, never looking down. But there was a reason his foe was known as “Flyin' Brian”; with one last surge of adrenaline, he vaulted from the middle of the ring apron to the top rope, and then flung himself at the ladder with a shouldertackle reminiscent of his college football days. Siaki went the opposite way, and got tangled in the lower and middle ropes. While Heenan fumed, Pillman placed the ladder back into position, and inched his way up. With the crowd on their feet, Pillman reached up and took the Southern Heavyweight belt off the loop it was hanging from, and he fell to the canvas with it firmly in his grasp. The referee raised his hand, and then left to untangle Siaki. The show ended with the “Loose Cannon” holding the belt high overhead, while Heenan stared him down, and he sarcastically said, “Good luck hanging on to it now, champ! Congratulations!”